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Washingfton 
During 
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Washini^ton Durinjr War Time 



A SERIES or ]^\iM■:l^s 



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MILITAHV, J^OIJTICAL, AND SOCIAL 
PHASES lJ\:iilS(} iH(h T(j i>J]^. 



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COLLKCXUD AaU EUl'lKU HY 

MARCUS BENJAMIN 

UtShKH J UK MKKCriOK Oif THE COMMI'XTEK OJT LiTEBATL'flK 
FOU THE EyCAMPM«yX 



THE NATIONAL TRIBLTCE CO. 
WASHINGTON. D. C. 




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b 



COMMITTEE ON LITERATUllE FOR THE 

ENCAMPMENT 

GENERAL THOMAS M. VINCENT, Chairman 

MRS. ISABEL W. BALL, Secretary 

BR. MARCUS BENJAMIN, Editor 

ALLEN D. ALBERT, JR. 

GENERAL H. V. BOYNTON 

WILLIAM V. COX 

GENERAL A. W. GREELY 

JAMES F. HOOD 

DR. CHARLES MOORE 

A. J. PARSONS 

BRAINARD H. WARNER, JR. 



p • 



/ 



INTKODUCTION 

THE objective point in a military campaign is the 
capital city of the enemy. Washington was three 
times during our Civil War almost within the grasp 
of the enemy, but it was never taken. The persistent cry 
of "On to Richmond!" showed the aim of the Federal 
armies. 

The object of this Souvenir is to give to the veteran sol- 
diers the history of the Capital during the years between 
the opening and closing of the war. It begins with a 
series of descriptions of Washington, showing the peace- 
ful nature of that pleasant town, taken from contempor- 
ary writers. This is followed by an account of the anx- 
iety of those who were loyal to the Union lest the friends 
of those who were disloyal should succeed in turning the 
Government over to the Southern States, culminating in 
the successful organization of the military by General 
Stone and the arrival of the volunteer troops from the 
North. The defenses of Washington, so ably constructed 
by the engineers, show the skill with which the Capital 
was made impregnable, while the defending of the Po- 
tomac by the naval forces is described as showing their 
part in the struggle for the protection of Washington. 
Then follows a description of the unsuccessful raid of 
Early, and an account of the check of the Confederate 
forces at Fort Stevens. The fear of capture is forever 
dissipated by the joy of delivery. The story of the sad 
death of Lincoln is told by an eye-witness of the last 
scenes in the life of that great martyr, while the history 
of the military features comes to a close with a descrip- 
tion of the Grand Review. 



^"1 



2^ 



WASHINGTON DURING WAR TIME 

The building up of the military power of the United 
States; the splendid work done in the hospitals; as well 
as that accomplished by the Christian and Sanitary Com- 
missions; and the transformation of Arlington into a 
memorial for the heroes of the war, are fully described. 
The final pages of the book contain an interesting ac- 
count of the political and social conditions that prevailed 
in Wasliington during the war period, and a description 
of the development of the smaller town into the greater 
and magnificent Washington of today. M. B. 



[vi] 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 



Page. 
Introduction ^ v 

Table of Contents vii 

List of Illustrations ix 

Organization of the United States Government xiii 

Washington on the Eve of the Civil War. By Wilhelmus 

Bogart Bryan, Chronicler of the Columbia Historical 

Society 3 

The Military Situation in Washington in 1861. By Marcus 

Benjamin, President of the Society of the War of 1812. . 13 

The Defenses of Washington. By John Gross Barnard, 
Major General by brevet and Colonel, Corps of Engi- 
neers 27 

The Part taken by the Naval Forces in the Defense of 
Washington during the Civil War. By Richard Wain- 
wright, Commander U. S. Navy and Superintendent 
Naval Academy 44 

Early's March to Washington. By Thomas McCurdy Vin- 
cent, Brigadier-General, by brevet, U. S. Army 49 

Fort Stevens, Where Lincoln Was Under Fire, By William 

Van Zandt Cox, Author of the Defenses of Washington. . 67 

The Death of President Lincoln. By Thomas McCurdy Vin- 
cent, Brigadier-General, by brevet, U. S. Army 80 

The Grand Review. By John McElroy, Senior Vice Com- 
mander, Grand Army of the Republic 91 

The Military Power of the United States as Shown during 
the War of the Rebellion. By Thomas McCurdy Vin- 
cent, Brigadier-General, by brevet, U. S. Army 100 

The War Hospitals. By John Wells Bulkley, Surgeon in 

Charge of the Patent Office Hospital 138 

The Humanities of the War. By William Jones Rhees, 

Archivist of the Smithsonian Institution 154 

Arlington and Battlefield Cemeteries. By Isabel Worrell 
Ball, Chairman, Press Committee, Thirty-Sixth Nation- 
al Encampment 173 

Political and Social Conditions During the War. By Brain- 
ard H. Warner, Chairman of the Thirty-Sixth National 

Encampment 185 

Washington of Today. By Henry Brown Floyd Macfarland, 
President, Board of Commissioners, District of Colum- 
bia 195 

tvil] 



LIST OF ILLUSTEATIONS 



Page. 
Abraham Lincoln with Signature. A photograph by Brady, 

obtained through the courtesy of Mr. O. H. Oldroyd. . . ii 

A Bird's Eye View of "Washington in 1862. A steel engrav- 
ing, from the collection of Mr. James F. Hood 2 

Vignette Portrait of General Winfield Scott. A war-time 
engraving by H. B. Hall, from the collection of Mr. 
James F. Hood 3 

A War-Tiine View of Pennsylvania Avenue from the Cap- 
itol. A war-time lithograph, from the collection of 
Mr. James F. Hood 12 

Vignette Portrait of General Charles P. Stone. From the 
Brady collection, obtained through the courtesy of 
General Greely 13 

Fortification in Front of Washington in 1862. From the 
Brady collection, obtained through the courtesy of 
General Greely 15 

Barricade in the Treasury Building. A wood cut published 

in 1861, from the collection of Mr. James F. Hood.... 24 

Vignette Portrait of General J. G. Barnard. A war-time 

engraving by A. H. Ritchie 27 

View of Battery Kemble. A lithograph in General Bar- 
nard's Report on the Defenses of Washington 31 

Bomb-proof Fort near Washington. From the Brady col- 
lection, obtained through the courtesy of General 
Greely 43 

Vignette Portrait of Secretary Welles. From the Brady 
collection, obtained through the courtesy of General 
Greely 44 

View of Battery Rodgers. A lithograph in General Bar- 
nard's Report on the Defenses of Washington 47 

A War-Time View of the Washington Navy Yard. A col- 
ored war-time lithograph, from the collection of Mr. 
James F. Hood 48 

Vignette Portrait of General M. C. Meigs. From the Brady 
collection, obtained through the courtesy of General 
Greely 4 9 

Confederate Cavalry Raiding New Windsor, Maryland. A 

war-time sketch, from the collection of Mr. W. V. Cox, 58 

On the Parapet at Fort Stevens. A war-time photograph, 

from the collection of Mr. W. V. Cox 62 

Vignette Portrait of General Horatio G. Wright. A pho- 
tograph by Prince, obtained through the courtesy of 
Mrs. Rosa Wright Smith 67 



[ix] 



WASHINGTON DURING WAR TIME 

Pagre. 

Night Attack on Fort Stevens, July 11, 1864. A war-time 

sketch, from the collection of Mr. W. V. Cox 71 

Confederate Assault on the Works Near Washington, July 
12, 1864. A war-time sketch, from the collection of 
Mr. W. V. Cox 76 

Vignette Portrait of General T. M. Vincent. A war-time 

photograph loaned by General Vincent 80 

Ford's Theatre Immediately After Lincoln's Death. A con- 
temporary wood cut from the collection of Mr, James F. 
Hood 83 

View of the House in Which Lincoln Died. A contempor- 
ary wood cut, from the collection of Mr. James F. 
Hood 90 

Vignette Portrait of General H. W. Halleck. From the 
Brady collection obtained through the courtesy of Gen- 
eral Greely 91 

The Grand Review on Pennsylvania Avenue, A colored 
print, obtained through the courtesy of General Vin- 
cent 93 

The National Armory, now the U. S. Pish Commission. A 
war-time engraving, from the collection of Mr. James 
F. Hood 99 

Vignette Portrait of Secretary Stanton. From the Brady 
collection, obtained through the courtesy of General 
Greely 100 

The Capitol Prison, A war-time photograph, from the col- 
lection of Mr. James F. Hood 119 

Old War Department Building, A war-time print, from the 

collection of Mr. James F. Hood 135 

Vignette Portrait of Dr. J. W. Bulkley. A photograph by 
Bachrach, obtained through the courtesy of Mr. Barry 
Bulkley 138 

Douglas and Stanton Hospitals. A colored lithograph made 
in 1864, obtained through the courtesy of Mr. Max Lans- 
burgh 143 

Campbell General Hospital. A colored lithograph made in 
1864, obtained through the courtesy of Mr. Max Lans- 
burgh 153 

Vignette Portrait of General E. D. Townsend. A photo- 
graph by Brady, obtained through the courtesy of Mr. 
Dallas B. Wainwright 154 

View of the Soldier's Rest. A colored lithograph made in 
18 64, obtained through the courtesy of Mr. Max Lans- 
burgh 163 

View of Military Asylum now Soldiers' Home. A colored 
war-time lithograph from the collection of Mr. James F. 
Hood 172 



W 






LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

Page. 

Vignette Portrait of General Irvin McDowell. A photograph 
taken in 1861, obtained through the courtesy of Mr. Max 
Lansburgh I73 

View of Long Bridge. Prom the Brady collection, obtained 

through the courtesy of General Greely 181 

Arlington House. A steel engraving, from the collection of 

Mr. James P. Hood 184 

Vignette Portrait of Secretary Holt. Prom the Brady col- 
lection, obtained through the courtesy of General Greely, 185 

Eighth Massachusetts Regiment i-n the Capitol. A wood cut 

made in 1861, from the collection of Mr. James P. Hood, 187 

Washington Arsenal. A colored war-time lithograph, from 

the collection of Mr. James P. Hood I94 

Vignette Portrait of John Hay. A photograph taken in 1861, 

obtained through the courtesy of Mr. Max Lansburgh. , . 195 

A Present Day View of Pennsylvania Avenue. A photograph 

taken by Mr. Horace Woodward 197 

View of City Hall. A steel engraving, from the collection of 

Mr. James P. Hood 202 

Map Showing location of War-Time Hospitals 204 

Map of Portifications and Defenses of Washington 207 

Pacsimile of Military Pass Issued by Department of Wash- 
ington in 1861. (Back of cover.) 



[xi] 



Washington on the Eve of the Civil War 

By AVILHELMUS BOGAET BRYAN 

Chronicler of the Columbia Uistorical Society 



J 




WiNFIELD 5C0TT 



p^^^^^rfiASHINGTON at the beginning 
of the Civil War, its appearance, 
its material and social phases, 
and the features incident to the 
opening scenes of the great drama 
of the war, has been described by a 
number of contemporary writers. 
A selection of extracts from some 
of these articles has been made 
for the purpose of furnishing a 
description, as full as possible, 
of the city as it was forty years 
ago. 
The picture presented is by no means complete, for in 
no instance did those quoted set out with the purpose of 
writing a liistor}^ of the city. Otherwise we would have 
had statistics from official documents, and details more 
or less wearisome. . The following rather gossipy and 
pleasant narratives furnish some facts which grave his- 
torians are apt to omit, but which have a recognized value 
in forming any just estimate of the times that are past. 

Washington of the war period as seen through the ej^es 
of contemporaries is therefore presented for the inspec- 
tion ol a later generation. 

Mrs. Mary E. W. Sherwood, whose delightful remin- 
iscences of the past have charmed so many readers, writes 



[3] 



WASHINGTON DURING WAR TIMlS 

agreeably of "Washington Before the War" in Lippin- 
cotfs Magazine for August, 1894. From her paper the 
,f oil owing extract is taken : 

It was a straggling mudhole in winter, but when spring 
came it was as beautiful (in spots) as it is now, and it 
had a gentler winter climate than at present. I have 
picked roses in Januar}^ in Mrs. Seaton's garden. 

Mrs. Fremont, her sister, Sue Benton, some pretty 
girls named Smith, the gifted nieces of Madame Cald- 
eron, the beautiful ^Irs. Barton Key; in fact, all our 
neighbors, on summer evenings would run about to visit 
each other without bonnets. People sat on the doorsteps, 
and I liave often seen a set of intimates walk up Pennsyl- 
vania Avenue to the old Capitol grounds, attended by sen- 
ators and secretaries Avith their heads bare, at seven 
o'clock of a fine summer evening. 

The following is an account of "The Methods of Local 
Travel" prior to the building in the year 18G2 of the first 
street car line in the District, namely the one on Penn- 
sylvania Avenue which extended from the Capitol to 
Fifteenth and G Streets. This paper was originally 
presented before the Association of the Oldest Inhabi- 
tants and was published in the Evening Star of December 
15, 1899: 

The best days of the omnibus were in the fifties, for 
besides the two main lines, Nailor's and the Union, which 
ran by a schedule for a five-cent fare from the West 
Capitol gate to Georgetown, each with twenty-five or 
thirty busses, were the Peoples' Line of Moore, Van- 
sciver and Cooper, the Citizens Union Line owned by 
AVeedon, McDcrmott, Ryther, and a number of livery 
men, coach builders, and hackmen with some fifteen or 
twenty coaches. There were nearly a hundred such vehi- 
cles plying. There were the old lines from the Capitol 
to Georgetown; the Navy Yard line; and one from Sixth 
Street by way of Pennsylvania Avenue, Seventh Street. 



ON THE EVE OF THE CIVIL WAR 

Maryland Avenue and Eleventh Street to and from the 
steamboat wharves. 

"Social Aspects of Washington before the Disunion" is 
the title of an anonymous communication that appeared 
in Once-a-Weeh on December 6, 1862. The writer is 
apparently of English origin and from the account of the 
market was probably a woman. It contains the follow- 
ing interesting paragraphs: 

The great heat in summer, which renders it desirable to 
have deep houses, is another reason for their exceeding 
ugliness. The rooms are always badly proportioned, long 
and narrow Avith windows at one end, and often the plan is 
so defective that there is a dark room on every floor, merely 
lighted from the passage. Four years ago there were but 
few houses which had water led into them in pipes ; every 
droj) of water had to be fetched from the neighboring 
pump. In the spring the houses undergo a complete 
transformation; cool mattings are laid down, and mir- 
rors, picture frames, clocks, and ornaments of all kinds are 
SAvathed in pink net to protect them from the SAvarm of 
flies Avho are anathematised under the name of bugs. 
* * * Spring is a most enjoyable season in Washington; 
in March the heat begins and soon the peach trees are 
covered Avith pink blossoms as thick as new fallen snow. 
The magnolias lade the air Avith delicious fragrance and 
countless rainboAv-hued blossoms adorn the stately tulip 
tree and afford shelter in their chalices for the fragile hum- 
ming bird. Then is the season of picnics to Mount 
Vernon and the Falls; one of the great amusements at 
the last-mentioned place is catching the shad, an excel- 
, lent fish like a white salmon, and broiling it on a plank 
beside a fierce fire. * * * The great market at Washing- 
ton is worth a visit. It is ten times the size of Covent 
Garden. The stir, the excitement of venders and buyers, 
the quaint old niggers selling their poultry and vegeta- 
bles, and the numerous ladies, senators' wives included, 
going from stall to stall inspecting fish, flesh, and fowl 
and pausing at the pyramids of vegetables to fill the 

[5] 



WASHINGTON DURING WAR TIME 

immense basket with which their sable attendant is laden, 
render it well Avorth the trouble of getting up at six in 
the morning. It is an almost universal custom among the 
thrifty housewives thus to attend to their household con- 
cerns. One senator's wife went even further and avowed 
with pride that being unable to get her ballroom Avaxed to 
her mind she "reckoned she just got down on here knees 
and did it herself." Good kindly souls they are, and if 
they do pickle hams and wash up tea cups with their own 
hands, why our own great grandmothers did the same. 

Congress generally prorogued alternately in March or 
July, and woe betide the unhappy mortals Avho had to 
wait on till the close of the session in July. The heat then 
became almost tropical, 92 degrees Fahrenheit in the 
shade. The flies rivalled those of Egyptian fame, the 
stinks of the ill-drained city became pestiferous, the fierce 
sunlight penetrated through the very walls of the badly- 
built houses. Washington was unendurable, and all who 
could beat a speedy retreat to Nahant, Saratoga, and the 
Sulphur Springs. 

There appeared in Bentley^s Miscellany for 1861 an 
article entitled "The Federal City of AYashington," by 
J. G. Kohl. The author is evidently a foreigner, and 
presents an interesting picture of Washington at the time 
mentioned. A few quotations are given: 

The streets are miles in length and superfluously broad, 
and in the suburbs small cottages stand at wide intervals. 
Only in the center is there a more compact body, and the 
whole resembles a frame of Berlin wool work in which 
the fair embroideress has made spasmodic attempts at a 
commencement. * * * There is no state in the world 
which possesses proportionately so small, scantily popu- 
lated, and shabby a capital as the American Union. * * * 
Pennsvlvania Avenue connects the House of ConsTess 
and the White House in a straight line, and is hence one 
of the principal arteries of circulation in the cit}^ It was 
for a long time the only paved street in Washington, and, 
indeed, the majority of the streets are still without that 

[6J 



ON THE EVE OF THE CIVIL WAR 

useful article. During the rainy weather, consequently, 
the city is a swamp and the dry season constantly full of 
dust clouds. Along Pennsylvania Avenue are the princi- 
pal shops, and hence it is the favorite, almost sole prome- 
nade of the fair sex. * * * A little muddy stream, which 
in Avinter bears a little water along the base of the 
Capitol, but in summer is hardly liquid enough for geese, 
is called Tiber Creek. * * * 

Washington is well provided Avith pleasant gardens, 
clumps of trees, allej^s, and flower beds. This circum- 
stance, and especially that of the long rows of trees 
accompanying the streets, gives the city a very pleasant 
aspect and it looks like a large rural village. The pret- 
tiest gardens and i)ublic places are around the AVhite 
House, or the Mansion as it is called in the higher and 
official style. * * * During spring, Avhich often begins 
here in February Avith the pleasantest daA^ and the mildest 
air, the city assumes an almost idyllic garb. The kine 
pasture in the streets, the bull frogs croak and roar in the 
side lanes. The birds of passage tAvitter in all the trees 
and the humming birds flash around CA^ery floAver.* * * 
A portion of the Washington street population consists 
of negroes, both free and slaA^es. * * * On Sunday the 
city appears almost entirely to belong to the negroes, for 
on that day they, and especially their Avives, or as they 
call them '4adies," parade in the most elegant costumes, 
the most glaring colors, the broadest crinolines, rustling 
in silks and most closely imitating the Avhite ladies and 
gentlemen 

"Washington City" is the title of an article that 
appeared in the Atlantic Monthly for January, 18G1, by 
G. W. ^agby. The folloAving extract taken from that 
paper seems indeed curious at the present time and 
almost incredible: 

Planned on a scale of surpassing grandeur, its architec- 
tural execution is almost contemptible. * * * It is a 
city without commerce and without manufactures. * * * 
The site of the U. S. Treasury, it is the home of every- 

[7] . . 



WASHINGTON DURING WAR TIME 

thing but aflluence. Its public buildings are splendid, its 
I)rivate buildings generally squalid. The houses are low, 
the rents high. The streets are broad, the crossings nar- 
row. The hacks are black and the horses are white; the 
squares are triangular, except that of the Capitol, which 
is oval; and the water is so soft that it is hard to drink 
it even with the admixture of alcohol. It has a monument 
that will never be finished, a Capitol that is to have a 
dome, a scientific institute which does nothing but report 
the rise and fall of the thermometer; and two pieces of 
equestrian statuary which it would be a waste of time to 
criticise. 

It boasts a streamlet dignified with the name of the 
river Tiber, and this streamlet is of the size and much 
the api)earance of a vein in a dirty man's arm. It has a 
canal, but this canal is a mud puddle during one half of 
the day and an empty ditch during the other.* * * After 
a fortnight of steady rain, the sun shines out and in half 
an hour tlic streets nre filled with clouds of dust. * --'*^- 
The men are fine looking, the women homely. * * * Not- 
Avithstanding all these impediments and disadvantages, 
AVashington is progressing rapidly. It is fast becoming 
a large city, but it must always remain a deserted Adllage 
in the summer. Its destiny is that of the Union. 

Captain Thomas M. AVoodruff, who served during the 
Civil War in the Fifth Infantr}^, writes pleasantly on 
"Early War Days in the Nation's Capital" for the War 
Papers of the Minnesota Commandery of the Loyal 
Legion. lie was in the Capital at the beginning of ihe 
Civil War, and describes the public buildings in the fol- 
lowing words : 

These buildings were not what you see them now, nor 
was the city such as it is at present. The dome of the 
Capitol had only reached to the second tier of columns, 
and the House and Senate wings were quite incomplete. 
The north front and inner court of the Patent Office were 
in course of construction ; the Post Office was only about 
one-third completed; only the e^st fvQut pf the Treasury 



ON THE EVE OF THE CIVIL WAR 

building existed. The State Department stood upon 

(ground to which has been extended the north wing of 

(the Treasury. The ^Var and Navy Departments Avere 

I old three-stoiy brick buildings, on ground where now 

( stands the beautiful granite pile comprising the offices for 

i the State and the two last-named- department! The 

I Washington Monumejit had, by the voluntary contribu- 

j tions of a grateful people, reached to one-third of its 

proposed height, and had practically come to a standstill 

— which now is apparent by the sharp line Avhere the 

cleaner marble shows a renewal of the work by means 

of Congressional appropriations. Pennsylvania Avenue 

I'j and about one mile of Seventh Street were practically the 

only paved streets, and for these cobblestones were used, 

from betAveen which, for half of the year, there was the 

ooze of some of slavedom's nastiest slime, that during the 

rest of the year became n p alp aM e dust, typical of the 

jdark_cloud that had settled over the Southern States^ ttet 

JTTst needed the Emancipation Proclamation to clear away 

an^ let in the wholesome sunlight of freedom. 

Our last quotations are from the pen of Theodore 
Winthrop, that gifted young author whose "Cecil Dreeme" 
gave such promise of genius that his death by a bullet 
at Big Bethel Avas gi'eatly deplored both in this country 
and abroad. At the request of James Russell Lowell, 
then editor of the At/antic Monthly^ he wrote two articles 
for that magazine, and from his "Washington as a 
Camp" that appeared in July, 1861, a few days after his 
death, the folloAving extracts are taken: 

We marched up the hill, and when the dust opened 
there was our Big Tent ready pitched. It Avas an enor- 
mous tent, the Sibley pattern modified. A simple soul in 
our ranks looked up and said, "Tent ! Canvas ! I don't 
see it. That's marble." Whereupon a simpler soul 
informed us, "Boys, that's the Capitol." And so it was 
the Capitol, as glad to see the New York Seventh Regi- 
ment as they to s§e i\. The Capitol was to be our (juartersj 



V 



WASHINGTON DURING WAR TIME 

and I was pleased to notice that the top of the dome ha 
been left off for ventilation. The Seventh had had ^ 
wearisome and anxious progress from New York. Wt 
had marched from Annapolis. * * * They gave us the 
Eepresentatives' chamber for quarters. * * * Some of| 
our companies were marched up stairs into the galleries. 
The sofas were to be their beds. * * * ^lost of us Avero 
bestoAved in the amphitheater. Each desk received its 
man. He was to scribble on it by day and sleep under 
it by night. AVhen the desks Avere all taken, the com- 
])anies overflowed into the corridors and into the lobbies. 
The staff' took committee rooms. The Colonel reigned in) 
the Speaker's parlor. ( 

Once in, firstly Ave Avashed. * * * After Ave washed! 
we shoAved ourselA^es to the eyes of Washington, march- 
ing in companies each to a different hotel to dinner. This 
became one of the ceremonies of our barrack life. We 
liked it. The Washino-tonians Avere amused and encour- 
aged by it. * * * But the best of the entertainment Avas 
Avithin the Capitol. Some three thousand or more of ns 
Avere noAv quartered there. The Massachusetts Eighth 
Avere under the dome. No fear for Avant of air for them.; 
The IMassachu setts Sixth Avere eloquent for their stat^ 
in the Senate Chamber. In the recesses, caA^es, and crypts 
of the Capitol. Avhat other legions Avere bestoAved I do not 
knoAv. * * * The men Avere sAvorn into the serA^ce of the 
United States the afternoon of April 2G.* * * We were 
drawn up by companies in the Capitol square for musv 
termg in. * * * When we had been ten days in our 
showy barracks, we began to quarrel Avith luxury. * * * 
The May sunshine, the birds, and the breezes of Mav 
invited us to camp — the genuine thing under cauA^as. 
Besides Uncles Sam and Abe Avanted our room for other 
company. Washington Avas filling up fast with uniforms. 
One afternoon mv comi:)anA\ the Ninth, and the P^nm- 
neers, the Tenth, Avere detailed to folloAv Captain Viele 
and lay out a camp on Meridian Hill. As we had the first 
choice, we got on the Avhole the best site for a camp. We 
occupied the villa and farm of Dr. Stone, two miles due 
north of Willard's Hotel. * * * The house stands upon 

[lOJ 



I ON THE EVE OF THE CIVIL WAR 

I 

e pretty terrace commanding the plain of Washington. 

•om the upper windows we can see the Potomac opening 

Lithward like a lake and between us and the water 

nbitious Washington stretching itself along and along 

ke the shackly files of an army of recruits. Oaks love 

;ie soil of this terrace. There are some noble ones on the 

idulations before the house. Let the ivy-covered stem 

■ the Big Oak of Camp Cameron take its place in litera- 

ire. * * * The old villa serA^es us for headquarters. It 

a respectable place, not without its pretensions. Four 

>anite pillars, as true grit as if the two Presidents 

dams had lugged them on their shoulders from Quincy, 

lass., make a carriage porch. Here is the Colonel in the 

ig west parlor, the Quartermaster and Commissary in 

le rooms with sliding doors in the east, the Hospital 

ipstairs, and so on. Other rooms numerous as the cells 

n a monastery serve as quarters for the Engineer com- 

)any. These dens are not monastic in aspect. * * * In 

t middle hours in the day it is in order to get a pass 

go to Washington or to visit some of the camps Avhich 

w, in the middle of May, begin to form a cordon around 

le city. Our Capital seems arranged by nature to be 

'otected by fortified camps on the circuit of its hills. It 

ay be made almost a Verona if need be. Our brother 

giments have posts nearly as charming as our own in 

ese fair groves and on these fair slopes on either side 

j us. 

The writer gives an account of the order of May 23, for 
,1 advance at midnight into Virginia, the beginning of 
ederal occupation of that State. After leaving camp 
(lie says : 

So we pegged along to Washington and across AYash- 
ngton which at that point consists of Willard's Hotel, 
.'ew other buildings being in sight. * * * Opposite that 
)ald block the Washington JMonument and opposite what 
vas of more importance to us — a drove of beeves putting 
)eef on their bones in the seedy grounds of the Smith- 
>onian Institution, we were halted while the New Jersey 

[11] 



WASHINGTON DURING WAR TIME 

brigade, some three thousand of them, trudged by. * *i 
The Long Bridge thus far has been merely a shab 
causeway with water waj^s and draws. ; 

The writer then describes the construction of the eari 
works on the ridge along the road to Alexandria at t. 
place where that road bends from west to south and t" 
return on May 26 of the regiment to Camp Camer< 
when, as the thirty days had expired, it was muster! 
out of the service. i 



\ 




A War-Time View of Pennsylvania Avenue from the Capit( 



118] 



le Military Situation in Washington in 1861 



By MARCUS BENJAMIN 

President of the Society of the War of IS 12 

HE winter months of the 
year 18G0-G1 Avere full of 
gloom to the residents of 
Washington. The fear- 
ful apprehension of the 
terrible nearness of the 
dreaded Civil War was 
constantly before them. 
It will be remembered 
that after an intensely 
earnest and anxious can- 
vass, Abraham Lincoln, 
the candidate of the Ee- 
publican party, had been 
jiected on a platform that denied the extension of slavery 
the new States. Distinct threats that the success of 
lie Republican candidate would be the signal for dis- 
. jnion, made during the heat of the canvass by extreme 
11 leaders in the Southern States, were soon found to be 
true. On December 20, 1860, South Carolina passed an 
I ordinance of secession and several of the leading mem- 
jbers of Mr. Buchanan's cabinet manifested their clearly 
defined opinions by promptly withdrawing from their 
offices. It was indeed fortunate that staunch Union men, 
such as John A. Dix and Joseph Holt, were induced to 

ri3] 




GEN. CHAS. P.STONE 



WASIlINGTOiSr DURING WAR TIME 

take up the arduous duties of the Treasury Departme 
and the War Department at that critical period, ev 
though it was but for a few months. 

Of the former, whose appointment was made at t 
urgent request of the financial meii of New York city, 
is a matter of official record that when he took office the 
were two revenue cutters at New Orleans, which ] 
ordered to New York. The Captain of one of these, aft 
consulting with the Collector in New Orleans, refused 
obey. Secretary Dix thereupon telegraphed : 

Tell Lieutenant Caldwell to arrest Captain Breshwoo 
assume command of the cutter, and obey the order I ga^ 
through you. If Captain Breshwood, after arrest, undei) 
takes to interfere with the command of the cutter, tei 
Lieutenant Caldwell to consider him as a mutineer, anc 
treat him accordingly. // anyone attemfts to haul clowi 
the American flag^ slioot hhn on the 8j)ot, r' 

These memorable words written in Washington, ^. 
live so long as the Stars and Stripes continue to float ov( 
our glorious country. j 

Passing to the military situation, a bill had been pr 
pared under the direction of the retiring Secretary 
War, abolishing all existing laws regulating the Distri 
of Columbia militia and volunteers and providing for' 
ncAv organization, so that to quote General Charles . 
Stone, who became, at the request of General Scot 
Lispector General of the District of Columbia, on Jan 
uary 2, 1861 : 

The only regular troops near the Capital of the country 
were three hundred or four hundred marines at tin 
Marine Barracks, and perhaps a hundred enlisted men o' 
ordnance at the Washington Arsenal. The old militir 
system had been abandoned (without being legally abol 

[14] 



Washington during waii time 

ished), and Congress had passed no laws establishing 
new one. The only armed volunteer organizations in th<! 
District of Columbia were: one company of riflemen at 
Georgetown (the Potomac Light Infantry), one company! 
of riSemen in Washington (the National Eifles), a skele-| 
ton battalion of infantry (the Washington Light Infan- 
try) of about one hundred and sixty men, and anothei 
small orsranization called the National Guard Battalion. 

Of these local organizations the Potomac Light Infan 
try Company of Georgetown was fairly drilled, wyl^ 
armed, and from careful information it seemed certa\ 
that the majority of its members could be depended upon 
in case of need. The National Rifles, through their comA 
manding officer, announced as their purpose "to guard thej 
frontier of Maryland and help to keep the Yankees from 
coming down to coerce the South!" On the other hand, 
the Washington Light Infantry organization and the 
National Guard were old volunteers, composed of resi 
dents of Washington, and were almost to a man faithfu 
to the Government. 

Colonel Stone at once set to work to organize volunteers 
for the preservation of order in the District, and in si: 
weeks, or by the middle of February, Avas able to repor 
that "thirty-three companies of infantry and riflemen anc 
t^C7 'ti'oops of cavalry were on the lists of the Distric 
volunteer force; and all had been uniformed, equipped 
and put under frequent drill." 

The necessity of this force soon became apparent. J^ 
plan had been organized for the purpose of seizing tin 
public departments at an opportune moment and obtain 
ing possession of the seals of the Government. The par 
assigned to the battalion organized under the name of t^ 
National Volunteers was to take possession of the T 



THE MILITARY SITUATION 

ury Department for the benefit of a new provisional 
government. 

This project, through tlie energetic efforts of Colonel 
Stone, Avas effectually prevented by his refusal to honor a 
requisition for arms and armament. 

In this connection it is eminently desirable to again 
quote from Colonel Stone, Avho has expressed his thorough 
appreciation of the services of these volunteer soldiers in 
the following terms: 

I think that the countr}^ has never properly appreci- 
ated* the services of those District of Columbia volun- 
teers. It certainly has not ai:)preciated the difficulties 
surmounted in their orc^anization. Those volunteers were 
citizens of the Federal District, and therefore had not 
at the time, nor have they ever since had, the powerful 
stimulant of a State feeling, nor the powerful support of 
a State government, a State's pride, a State press to set 
forth and make much of their services. Thev did their 
duty quietly, and they did it well and faithfully. 
Although not mustered into the service and placed on pay 
until after the fatal day when the flag was fired upon, 
for the first time, at Sumter, yet they rendered great 
service before that time in giving confidence to those 
citizens of the District who were faithful to the Govern- 
ment, in giving confidence to members of the national 
legislature, and in giving confidence also to the President 
in the knowledge that there was at least a small force at 
his dis]:)osal ready to respond at any moment to his call. 
It should also be remembered of them, that the first troops 
mustered into the service were sixteen companies of these 
volunteers; and that during the dark days when Wash- 
ington was cut off from communicntiou with the North, 
when railway bridges were burned and tracks torn up, 
when the Potomac was blockaded, these troops were the 

*The total number of men received into the United States service 
and credited to the District from the beg-innin.a: to the close of 
the Rebellion, was 16,872. — Journal of the Executive Council of 
the City of Washing-ton, 1865-67, page 728. 

? [17] 



WASHINGTON DURING WAR TIME 

only reliance of the Government for guarding the public 
departments, for preserving order and for holding the 
brido-es and other outposts; that these were the troops 
which recovered possession of the railway from Washing- 
ton to Annapolis Junction and made practicable the 
re-opening of communication. They also formed the 
advance guard of the force which first crossed the Poto- 
mac into Virginia, and captured the city of Alexandria. 

A militar}^ force having been organized, the next im- 
portant consideration was the preparation of a plan for 
the defense of the Capital. 

AVashington as a military post had no natural strength. 
It was accessible to an enemy on all sides. Moreover, a 
considerable portion of its inhabitants was believed to be 
in sympathy Avith the people of the South, and would 
have welcomed Avith joy the advent of the Rebel soldiers. 
The adjacent country Avas also the home of those Avho 
served in the Confederate Army, and Avhose fathers, 
mothers, brothers, sisters and SAveethearts anxiously 
Avaited for the hour Avhen the hated blue of the Yankees 
should no longer afflict them Avith its presence. These 
residents, peaceable and harmless though they seemed, 
were in reality a multitude of spies, through Avhom the 
condition of the Capital Avas ahvays known to the enemy. 

As Inspector General of the District of Columbia 
Colonel Stone Avas in command of the District troops, all 
the infantry and cavalry Avhich the GoA^ernment then had 
at its disposition for the defense of the Federal District, 
the preservation of order in the Capital, and the guarding 
of the public buildings and archiA^es of the nation. It was 
his duty to so station the troops that all approaches to 
the city should be constantly watched, and he held pos- 
session not only of the Long Bridge and Chain Bridge ^ 
over the Potomac, but also stationed pickets far out on 

[18] 



THE MILITARY SITUATION 

the roads leading into the city, and placed nightly guards 
in all of the public buildings. 

Mention must be made of the seizure of the railroads 
and telegraphs, as well as the interesting incidents con- 
nected with the successful inauguration of President Lin- 
coln as among the events that occurred during the early 
months of 18G1, in which active participation was had by 
the volunteers under Colonel Stone. 

The condition of affairs soon became critical, as is 
shown by the following conversation, which took place 
between General Scott and Colonel Stone, early in 1861. 

General Scott said : "Gosport Navy Yard has been 
burned !" I replied, quietly : "Yes, General !" He contined : 
"Harper's Ferry bridge has been burned!" Again I 
replied : "Yes, General." Again he spoke : "The bridge at 
Point of Rocks was burned some days since!" I replied: 
"Yes, General." He continued : "The bridges over Gun- 
powder Creek beyond Baltimore have been burned ! " I 
still replied: "Yes, General." He added: "They are 
closing their coils around us, sir!" Still I replied, in the 
same tone: "Yes, General." "Now," said the general, 
"how long can we hold out here?" I replied: "Ten days. 
General, and within that time the North will come down 
to us." 

"How will they come? The route through Baltimore 
is cut off." 

"They will come by all routes. They will come between 
the capes of Virginia, up through Chesapeake Bay, and 
by the Potomac. They will come, if necessary, from 
Pennsylvania through Maryland directly to us ; and they 
will come through Baltimore and Annapolis." 

After some further discussion. General Scott asked: 

""V^^here are your centers?" 

[19] 



WASHINGTON DURING WAR TIME 

"There are three, General. First^ the Capitol, where 
have been stored some two thousand barrels of flour, and 
where Major McDowell remains every night with from 
two hundred to three hundred of my volunteers. Second. 
the City Hall hill, a commanding point, with broad 
avenues and wide streets connecting it with most import- 
ant points, having in its vicinity the Patent Office and 
the General Post Office, in each of which I place a force 
every night. In the General Post Office we have stored a 
large quantity of flour. Third^ the Executive Square, 
including the President's House, the War, Navy, State, 
and Treasury Departments, in each of which, and in 
Winder's building, I place a force every night after dusk. 
The citadel of this center is the Treasury building. The 
basement has been barricaded very strongly by Captain 
Franklin of the Engineers, who remains there at night 
and takes charge of the force. The front of the Treasury 
building is well flanked by the State Department build- 
ing, and fifty riflemen are nightly on duty there. The 
building opposite is also occupied at nights. The out- 
posts at Benning's bridge and the pickets in that direction 
will, in case of attack in force, retire, fighting, to the 
Capitol. Those on the northeast and north will, if 
pressed, retire by Seventh street to the City Hall hill, 
while those on the northwest and west will, in case of 
attack, fall back and finally take refuge in the Treasury 
building, where they will be joined by the detachments 
guarding the river front when the attack shall have 
become so marked and serious that only the centers can 
be held. In the Treasury building are stored two thousand 
barrels of flour, and perhaps the best water in the city 
is to be found there. The city is so admirably laid out 
in broad avenues and wide streets centering on the three 

[20] 



THE MILITARY SITUATION 

positions chosen, that concentration for defense at any 
one of the three is made easy. The field battery can 
move rapidly toward any outpost where heavy firing shall 
indicate that the attack is there serious, and with the aid 
of this battery the retreat .from that point can be made 
slowly enough to give time for concentration on that line 
of the outlying companies in positions not threatened. 
In case a sharp resistance outside the city may fail to 
prevent an advance of the enemy, w^e can occupy the 
centers until the North shall have time to come to our 
relief. All our information tends to show that the force 
of the enemy which can immediately act against the 
Capital does not exceed five thousand organized men ; and 
before that number can be largely increased our relief 
will come. These District of Columbia volunteers wouW 
be fighting in defense of their homes and would fight 
well." 

He then said : 

"Your plan is good. Your pickets will have to fight 
well, and must try to not fall back more than fifteen paces 
at a time and to fire at least once at each halt. This 
requires good men and good, devoted officers. These sol- 
diers of the District will probably fight quite as well in 
defense of their homes as will the enemy in attacking 
them. But you have too many centers. You cannot 
hold three. You will need all your force concentrated 
to hold one position against an energetic force equal to 
or superior in numbers to all you have. The first center 
to be abandoned must be the Capitol. It is a fireproof 
building. There is little in it that is combustible except- 
ing the libraries of the Congress and the Supreme Court, 
and I do not believe that American soldiers, even in rebel- 

[21] 



WASHINGTON DURING WAR TIME 

lion, are yet capable of burning or destroying public 
libraries and the archives of courts of justice. 

"The second center to be abandoned will be the City 
Hall hill. 

"Finally, if necessar}^, all else must be abandoned, to 
occupy, strongly and effectively, the Executive Square, 
with the idea of finally holding only the Treasury build- 
iug, and, perhaps the State Department building, prop- 
erly connected. The seals of the several departments of 
the Government must be deposited in the vaults of the 
Treasury. They must not be captiu*ed and used to deceive 
and create uncertainty among public servants distant 
from the Capital." 

Then, speaking more impressively, he said: "Should 
it come to the defense of the Treasury building as a 
citadel, then the President and all the members of his 
cabinet must take up their quarters with us in that build- 
ing! They shall not be permitted to desert the Capital !" 

Colonel Stone's confidence in the loval soldiers of the 
Northern States was soon justified, for they came quickly. 

To the honor of the great Commonwealth of Pennsyl- 
vania, it is a matter of history that several hundred 
unarmed militia from that State were the first to reach 
Washington. Massachusetts came next, and it is her 
proud record that her Sixth regiment of state militia 
arrived in Washington on April 19, after hard fighting 
in the streets of Baltimore, and was quartered in the 
Capitol. 

Finally, on April 25, the famous Seventh regiment of 
New York reached the Capital and the blockade was 
broken. Concerning this regiment it may be added that 
on April 15, the President's call for 75,000 men had been 
issued and two days later this "unrivalled body of citizen- 

[22] 



THE MILITARY SITUATION 

soldiery" marched down Broadway on their way to 
Washington. On arriving at Philadelphia they learned 
of the attempt to prevent the passage of the Sixth Massa- 
chusetts through the City of Baltimore and accordingly 
chartered a steamer for Annapolis, from where they 
reconstructed the railroad track to Annapolis Junction 
and soon reached Washington, where the companies were 
quickly formed and the column marched ''in correct 
Seventh regiment style up Pennsylvania Avenue to the 
President's Mansion, Avhere they gave a marching salute 
to the President." 

It must not be forgotten, liowever, that the muster in 
of the District volunteers was begun on April 10, in the 
enclosed space on the north side of the War Office, and 
thus it was that the first citizen troops called into the 
service of the United States to oppose secession were those 
of the District of Columbia. 

From day to day regiments of volunteers came from 
the North and from the Northwest to Washington, until 
it was soon strong enough to resist the attack of any 
force its enemies could send against it. 

Captain Thomas M. Woodruff, who was in Washing- 
ton at that time, has described some of these regiments as 
follows : 

I remember the First Rhode Island, under command of 
General Burnside, which was quartered at the Patent 
Office, and we soon found that it was largely composed of 
college students, who often came around to our house and 
sang their college songs, and several times brought their 
regimental band to serenade the young ladies in the 
neighborhood. The Second Rhode Island, with a light 
battery attached, soon afterwards came, and Governor 
Sprague accompanied these for the puri30se of command- 
ing all the troops from his State. These regiments were 

[23] 



WASHINGTOK DURING WAR TIME 

well drilled, and had dress parades at the Patent Office. 
They wore the service blue, and two companies of the 
First regiment were armed with a breech-loading carbine. 
Later they were moved out to the northern limits of 
the city and encamped in a beautiful grove called Gale's 
Woods, wliere their tents were put up on frames with 
wooden sides and doors. The Seventh New^ York (which t 
was originally quartered at the Capitol) also had a beau- 
tiful cam]) out north of the city at the old Stone estate 
on Columbia Pleio-hts, the mansion of Avhich is now 



r 




Barricade in the Treasury Building. 



known as the home of the late illustrious General John 
A. Logan, and still occupied by his widow. The Seventy- 
first New York Light Infantry was likewise a fine regi- 
ment, and uniformed much in the same style as the 
Seventh, in cadeUgray. It is said that these two regi- 
ments and the First lihode Island came back after their 
thirty days' service in great part as officers of other 

[24] 



i 



THE MILITARY SITUATION 

organizations. The Twelfth New York, under General 
Butterfiekl, arrived without any uniforms and looked 
very shabby with their equipments buckled over their 
varicolored citizens' clothes. They were put into camp 
in the central part of the city at Franklin Park. They 
shortly obtained the service uniform, and in a few weeks 
were called Butterfield's Kegulars; their manual of arms 
was faultless, and they developed into one of the finest 
regiments in the city. Another handsome regiment was 
Ellsworth's Fire Zouazes (the Eleventh New York). 
They were quartered in the Capitol; they marched and 
drilled well, but were restless and somewhat unruly. On 
the occasion of a fire in the Owen House, next to Wil- 
lard's Hotel, they broke out and ran pellmell to the fire, 
where they worked like salamanders, running in and out 
of the flames, bringing out all kinds of furniture and 
utensils. There were three regiments Avhose uniforms 
were particularly handsome and gay — the Thirty-ninth, 
Sixtv-ninth,.and Seventy-ninth New York. The nrst was 
the Garibaldi Guards, uniformed as is the Italian light 
infantry or Bersagliari of the present time — a very dark 
greenish blue cloth, with a flat-brimmed round-top hat set 
oif Avitli cock's feathers. The Sixty-ninth was an Irish 
regiment, commanded by the gallant Corcoran, Avho was 
wounded at Bull Run. They have kept up their organiza- 
tion and wear the same uniform as then worn — coats rather 
conspicuously set off with crimson and green ; they carry a 
green flag with the harp of Erin embroidered thereon. 
The Seventy-ninth was the Highland regiment, com- 
manded by Colonel Cameron, a brother of Simon Cam- 
eron, then Secretary of War, who was killed at Bull Run. 
They were very showy in their kilts, and were fairly 
drilled. I remember some regiments from Wisconsin and 
from Minnesota, the gallant historic First, two from Con- 
necticut, and some from other New England States, that 
came about this time, fully armed and splendidly 
equipped, some of the latter bringing full regimental 
wagon trains. Many of these regiments wore a most 
serviceable gray uniform, which, however, was subse- 



[25] 



WASHINGTON DURING WAR TIME 

quently put aside for the national blue. These organiza- 
tions were composed of fine material — handsome, stal- 
wart, intelligent men, who €Ould turn their minds and 
hands to any occupation, and who a few weeks afterwards 
surrounded the city with a complete cordon of field 
fortifications. 

It was these men, orgiinized by Colonel Stone, under 
General Scott, who formed the army that General 
McDowell led to the first battle of Bull Run, and it is to 
l)e regretted that the story of that battle, forced upon the 
country by the clamor of those who stayed at home, 
cannot be included in this chapter. 

It was also these same volunteer soldiers who became 
the nucleus of the famous Army of the Potomac, whose 
splendid deeds during the long campaigns that were then 
3'et to come form the brightest page on the history of the 
greatest war of modern times. The bravery and heroism 
of these soldiers finds a fitting culmination in the "Grand 
Review," described elsewhere in this volume. 



[26] 



The Defenses of Washington 



'b 



By JOHN GROSS BARNARD 

AlajoT General hy hrevet and Colonel^ Corps of Engineers 



HEN, after the disaster of Bull 
Run, it became apparent that 
the war was to be a struggle of 
long duration, the necessity of 
the thorough fortif3dng of 
Washington ceased to be doubt- 
ful. The situation was indeed 
such as to admit of no elaborate 
plans, scarcely of the adequate 
study of the ground necessary 




&f;K\ J.Gl.aRNARD 



to a judicious location of a line 
so extensive. The first exigency 
was to fortify the position on the heights of Arlington, 
the most obvious manner of doing which was to connect 
Forts Corcoran and Albany by intermediate works, 
within musketry or canister range of each other, and 
thus formy with Fort Runyon, a chain or a "couronne," 
covering at the same time the bridges and the heights. 
The ground, furrowed by numerous ravines, proved suf- 
ficiently favorable, and the large lunettes, with stockaded 
gorges. Forts Craig, Tillinghast, Cass, Woodbury, and 
De Kalb (subsequently called Fort Strong), were speedily 
laid out and begun. The location of these w^orks, as also 



*This article is taken from General Barnard's Report on the 
Defenses of Washing-ton, being No. 20 of the Professional Papers 
of the Corps of Engineers, U. S. Army, Washington, 1871. 



[27] 



WASHINGTON DURING WAR TIME 

their design and construction, were principally due to 
Majors AVoodbury and Alexander. Fort Corcoran being 
on a "step" or small plateau of inferior level to that of 
the heights, is was necessary to continue the line, by Fort 
De Kalb toward the river, along the higher level. As 
it requires many days to obtain, in regularly-profiled field 
forts, so much cover as will make them partially defensi- 
ble, a temporary expedient for improvising defense was 
found in making a wide "slashing" through the forest in 
advance of the line of these intended works, and a mar- 
ginal slashing around its edge. Half-sunk batteries for 
field-guns were prepared between the sites of Forts De 
Kalb and Woodbury and near that of Fort Craig.* 
From the heights north of the Potomac, between George- 
town and the "distributing reservoir," which overlooked 
and commanded the ground in advance of the defensive 
line, a formidable flanking fire Avas obtained by the erec- 
tion of "Battery Cameron" for two rifled 42-pounders. 

The wooded ridge which lies north of and parallel to 
the lower course of Four-Mile Run, offered a favorable 
position from which the city, the Long Bridge, and the 
plateau in advance of it could be overloolwd and can- 
nonaded, and from which it was important to exclude the 
enemy so long as our defensive line was thus limited. 
Access to it was made difficult by felling the forest with 
which it was covered (about 200 acres) and the construc- 
tion upon it of the large lunette (Fort Scott) was begun 
as soon as the site could be fixed. The subsequent exten- 
sion of the line to embrace Alexandria threw this work 
and Fort Albany into the rear, but it retained, neverthe- 

*It is interesting- here to remark that, with the experience our 
troops and engineers acquired two or three years later, this whole 
position would in 24 hours have been formidably intrenched by a 
continuous line of (so-called) rifle-pits, strengthened by "slnsh- 
ings," etc. But we had not then the men who could be trusted to 
hold such Une. 

[28] 



THE DEFENSES 

less, a considerable importance, since, taken in connection 
with Forts Richardson, Craig, and others, it completed a 
defensive line for AVashington independent of the exten- 
sion to Alexandria. 

While these operations were going on General Richard- 
son, Avhose division held position along the Columbia 
Turnpike, had occupied and pointed out the importance 
of the eminence in advance of Fort Albany commanding 
the plateau along which that road passes and flanking the 
Arlington lines. The small inclosed polygonal work, 
"Fort Richardson," was begun thereon about September 
1, 1861. 

The defense of Alexandria and its connection with that 
of Washington was a subject of anxious study. The 
exigency demanding immediate measures, the first idea 
naturally was, availing ourselves of Fort Ellsworth as 
one point of the defensive system, to connect it with Fort 
Scott by intermediate works on Mount Ida and adjacent 
heights. A protracted study of the topography for sev- 
eral miles in advance showed that such a line would be 
indefensible. Not only would the works themselves be 
commanded by heights in advance, but the troops which 
should support them would be restricted to a narrow 
space, in which they would be overlooked and harassed 
by the enemy's distant fire. The occupation, therefore, of 
the heights a mile in advance of Fort Ellsworth, upon 
which the Theological Seminary is situated, seemed abso- 
lutely accessary, and examination showed their topogra- 
phy tc be favorable to a defensive line, as points of which 
the si:es of Forts Worth and Ward were selected and tlie 
work begun about the first of September, and the line 
thence continued simultaneously by Fort Reynolds to 
comdct wit.h Forts Richardson and Craig. Somewhat 
beer Fort Barnard, intermediate between R@y|^o}^s ^nd 

[29] 



WASHINGTON DURING WAR TIME 

Hicliardson, and partially filling the gap, was begun. It 
connnanded the valley of Four-Mile Run and flanked a 
deep tributary ravine lying across the approaches to Forts 
Iveynolds and Ward. 

The heights south of Hunting Creek, overlooking Alex- 
andria and more elevated than Fort Ellsworth, were for 
some time a subject of anxiety. The fortification of the 
Seminary Heights, which connnanded them, diminished 
materially the danger of their temporary seizure by the 
enemy. As soon, however (about the middle of Septem- 
ber), as a sufficient force could be detached to occupy the 
position and protect the construction, the large fort, 
called Lyon, was begun. Major (Brevet Major General) 
KeAvton, then attached as an engineer officer to the staff 
of General Franklin, selecting the site and planning the 
work. This extensive field-work occupied a month or two 
in construction, during which time the position w^as made 
somewhat more defensible by rifle-trenches across the 
plateau in advance. 

AYhile strengthening as rapidly as possible our most 
assailable and, at first, exceedingly weak pooition on the 
south shore of the Potomac, it was, though perhaps less 
urgent, still necessary to provide some auxiliary defenses 
to the city itself against approaches along the northern 
shores. In the summer and autumn the Potomac is easily 
fordable at points not distant from Washington. The 
army which had been victorious at Manassas, ard whose 
.advance posts were soon visible at Munson's Hill, might, 
it was thought, improve the critical period whidi fol- 
lowed, ere our rapidly-arriving volunteer regiments could 
be orofanized into a formidable force, and 'while that 
which had fought that battle, disorganized by defeat, was 
,dwindling away by expiration of three montlis' tei'n of 
service, to cross the river and assail us, where i the resiJrs 

[30] 






r-f 



(B 




WASHINGTON DURING WAR TIME 

of success, even if involving greater risks, would halve 
been the most decisive. i 

To meet the emergency, Avorks were necessarily throvl^ii 
up without that deliberate study of the topography in 
which the establishment of such defensive line should, ijf 
practicable, be based. Tlie first directions given to oujr 
labors Avere to secure the roads^ not merely as the beater)i 
highways of travel from the country to the city, but as 
in general, occupying the best ground for an enemy'i 
approach. Thus the site of Fort Pennsylvania (subset 
quently called Fort Reno) was early in August selected 
X on the heights of TennallytoAvn, commanding the three 
roads already described, Avhich unite at that place. This 
position, strongly held and aided by Fort Gaines soor 
after located and begun, made it comparatively easy tc 
exclude hostile approach by the sector of country 
between the Potomac and Rock Creek. Fort Stevens 
commanding the Seventh Street road, and, in connectior 
with it. Forts Totten and Slocum, were almost simultanf- 
eously begun, as also Fort Lincoln, commanding th^ 
Baltimore Turnpike and Baltimore Railroad. As speedily 
as possible thereafter the intervening works. Forts De 
Russy, Bunker Hill, Saratoga, Slemmer, and Thayer, 
were interpolated. 

The fixing of the left of the line on the Potomac wp'jh^ 
less obvious. The topography indicated its continua 
from TennallytoAvn along the brow of the heights o\ 
looking the valley of Powder-Mill Run, at a point 
which, indeed. Fort Gaines was actually being bu 
This would haA^e brought the left near and behind i 
Chain Bridge. It was deemed indispensable not only tl 
this bridge should be within our line, but so far witk 
as to be protected from artillery fire from hostile batteri« 
It was als^ imperative to protect the "receiving roservoi 

' "' [82] 



THE DEFENSES 

of the Washington Aqueduct, upon which the city 
depended for most of its supply of water. Hence the 
final establishment of the left on the heights, close to 
the river, beyond the reservoir and valley of Powder-Mill 
Branch. It w^as deemed necessary to give the position, 
thus isolated, considerable strength, and the site being 
unfavorable to the rapid creation of a strong position by 
a single large work, three smaller ones were erected, 
which, a ^^ear later, were united into one, and called Fort 
Sumner. 

The first idea as to defensive works beyond the Ana- 
costia were to fortify the debouches from the bridges 
and the heights overlookino- the Navv Yard. AVith that 
object Fort Stanton was begun early in September. A 
further examination of the remarkable ridge between the 
Anacostia and Oxen Run showed clearly that, to protect 
the Navy Yard and Arsenal from cannonade, is was 
necessary to occupy an extent of six miles from Fort 
Greble to Fort Meigs. Forts Greble and Carroll were 
begun in the latter part of September and Fort Mahan 
near Bennings' Bridge, about the same time. The latter 
work connnanded the road leading along the margin of 
Anacostia from Bladensburg and served as an advanced 
tete-de-pont to the bridge just named. Fort Meigs, occu- 
pying the extreme point of the ridge from which artillery 
tire might be brought to bear upon the Capitol or Xavy 
Yard, was begun somewhat later in the season, as were 
also Forts Dupont. Davis, Baker, AVagner. Ricketts, and 
Snyder. These were all well advanced to com]:)lction 
before the close of the A'car. At nn earlv date, defensive 
measures had been taken at the Chain Bridge, consisting 
of a barricade immediately over the first pier from the 
Virginia side, Avith a movable staircase, by which the 
defenders could retreat over the fiat below, leaving the 

3 [33] 



WASHINGTON DURING WAR TIME 

bridge open to the fire of two mountain howitzers, placed 
immediately at its Maryland end, of a battery on the 
bluff above ("Martin Scott") of one 8-inch sea-coast 
howitzer and two SS-jDounders. As even this last battery 
Avas commanded by heights on the Virginia side, it was 
deemed proper to erect another called Vermont at a 
higher point, which should command the Virginia 
heights, and at the same time sweep the approaches of 
the enemy along the Maryland shore of the Potomac. 

But the occupation of the Virginia shore at the Chain 
Bridge was essential to the future operations of our army 
in Virginia, to the prestige of our arms, and incidentally 
important to the defense of Washington. It was only 
delaved until our force Avas sufficient to authorize its 
accomplishment. General W. F. Smith's Division crossed 
the bridge on the night of September 24, and Forts 
Ethan Allen and Marcy were immediately begun and 
speedily finished. 

Comprised in the foregoing categories there are twenty- 
three forts south of the Potomac, fourteen and three 
batteries between the Potomac and Anacostia and eleven 
forts beyond the Anacostia, making forty-eight forts in 
all. These works varied in size, from Forts Ivunyon, 
Lyon, and Marcy, of which the perimeters were 1,500, 
1)89, and 730 yards, to Forts Bennett, Haggerty, and Sar- 
atoga, Avith perimeters of 146, 128, and 154 yards. The 
greater portion of them Avere enclosed Avorks of earth, 
though many, as Forts Craig, Tillinghast, Scott, south f 
of the Potomac, and Forts Saratoga and Gaines on the 
north, Avere lunettes, Avith stockaded gorges. The arma- I 
ment Avas mainly made up of 24 and 32-pounders, on sea 
coast carriages, Avitli a limited proportion of 24-pounder / 
siege guns, rifled l*arrott guns, and guns on field car- 1 
riages of light caliber. Magazines Avere provided fo^; 



1 



THE DEFENSES 



100 rounds of ammunition, and some few of the more 
important works (Forts Lyon, Worth, and Ward) had a 
considerable extent of bomb-proof cover, in which about 
one-third of the garrisons might comfortably sleep and 
nearly all take temporary shelter. 

Such were the defenses of Washington at the beginning 
of the year 1802. But public opinion Avas at this period 
undergoing another fluctuation. The fortifications, 
lightly regarded before the Manassas campaign, were 
after that disaster eagerly demanded and their progress- 
ive advancement toward defensibility watched with 
anxiety. When, under General McClellan's high organ- 
izing abilities, a large, perfectly-appointed, and tolerably 
well-disciplined army grew into existence, and when the 
brilliant success of Dupont at Port Royal, and of Thomas 
and Grant in the West, had encouraged the belief that a 
"sharp and decisive" campaign would terminate the war, 
they once more fell into disrepute. The act of Congress 
appropriating money for completing the defenses of 
AVashington* provided that no part of the sum should be 
applied to any work "hereafter to be commenced." From 
the description which has been given, it will be easily 
recognized that, whatever assistance the works then 
existing might be able to afford to an army defending 
Washington, they Averc far from constituting, especially 
on the north of the Potomac, a thoroughly-fortified line. 
Nor could they, so loose were their connections, effectually 



*Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the sum 
of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars be, and the same is 
hereby, appropriated out of any money in the Treasury not other- 
wise appropriated, for completing the defenses of Washington: 
Provided, That all arrearages of debts incurred for the objects of 
this act shall be first paid out of this sum: And provided further. 
That no part of the sum hereby appropriated shall be expended in 
any work hereafter to be commenced. 

[35] 



WASHINGTON DURING WAR TIME 

repel raids. Detached earthworks, Avith wide intervals 
and no connecting lines or obstacles, could only consti- 
tute ^''points (T apjniV for an army giving battle to an 
invader — not a fortified place Avhich a garrison could 
defend against greatly superior force. Such as they were, 
however, there can be no doubt of their important influ- 
ence in protecting Washington, and in saving us from 
further calamities, after the failure of General McClel- 
lan's campaign against Richmond, and the retreat of 
General Pope upon Washington. 

The peril in which the Capital was placed in the 
months of August and September, 1862, by the events just 
alluded to, revealed the inadequacy of existing defenses 
and demonstrated the necessity of further development. 
The writer, who at this period had been assigned to the 
command of tlie place, and with it had resumed the 
engineering charge, was, under such circumstances, far 
more vividly impressed with the deficiencies and defects 
of the existiuir defenses than he could be when a fcAV 
months earlier he had relinquished the charge of a work 
which had been reo'ardcd bv Conoress as alreadv carried 
further than necessarv. Notwithstandiu": tlie recent lec^- 
islation, the most energetic means were taken to increase 
the strength of the line, whether by the construction of 
new works or by the enlargement and improvement of 
old o'les. INIany of the latter, occupying sites of which the 
commanding character had prompted an early and 
hastilv-executed occupation, Avere entirelv too small. 
Such were Fort SteAxms, Fort Slocum, Fort Ward. At 
otlier localities the proper occupation of the site required 
more or less extensive auxiliary constructions. Such 
were the sites of Forts Lyon, Sumner, Reno, Lincoln, 
Meigs, and others. Numerous gaps existed requiring the 
interpolation of new Avorks. Ravines or depressions of 

[36] 



THE DEFENSES 

surface, unseen from the ^YO^ks, intersected the line at 
various points or lay along its front, to control which 
numerous auxiliary batteries were necessary. Finally it 
was evident that, even with all such improvements, the 
defenses would yet remain only a system of "''point cV 
apimi''^ to a line of battle, unless they were connected by 
works which would cover the troops occupying the inter- 
mediate ground and offer some obstacle to the passage of 
the enem}^ Besides the foregoing demands for new con- 
struction or further development, there was a necessity 
for repairing and even rebuilding much of the interior 
structure of the original works, and for providing nearly 
all of them Avith so much bomb-proof shelter as would 
protect their garrisons against a concentrated fire of 
artiller}^ Finally, a great change in the character and 
arrangement of the armament was urgently needed. The 
demand for field-guns for our armies had stripped our 
arsenals of tliem and compelled the substitution in these 
forts of large numbers of 24 and f')'2-pounders on harhette 
carriages. Such guns made a very improper armament. 
Not onl}^ were they too heavy and unmanageable, but so 
exposed that at close quarters they would be nearly 
unserviceable. To replace most of these as rapidly as 
possible by light guns on field carriages placed in 
embrasure^ was deemed imperative, in doing wdiich an- 
other expedient to enhance the efficiency of the artillery 
fire suo'Q'ested itself. Alone: the extended belt of country 
on which the line was located were numerous points, either 
in the works themselves or within the lines, which over- 
looked the external approaches, and from which a flank- 
ing fire from heavy rifled guns to an extent of three or 
four miles could be obtained. Battery Cameron, near 
Georgetown, had already been built to answer such a pur- 
pose in relation to the Arlington lines. It was now pro= 

[3T] 



WASHINGTON DURING WAR TIME 

posed to mount rifled 100-pounders at intervals of two or 
three miles for the same object. An enemy attacking or 
approaching any part of the lines would not only have 
to contend with the artillery before him (which he might, 
indeed, hope to silence), but would be taken in flank 
by a distant fire of heavy projectiles, with which his own 
artillery could not contend. 

Another object, quite independent of the original pur- 
poses of the defenses, suggested itself at this period as 
important, namely, the better defense of the river against 
naval approach, by the construction of water batteries. 

The above-projected developments would, if carried 
out, involve an amount of labor and expenditure far 
exceeding what had originally been bestowed upon the 
works and they would necessarily require considerable 
time. With the sanction of the Secretary of War, the 
late E. M. Stanton, who gave the most cordial and 
unqualified support to the efforts of the engineers, every- 
thing that it was practicable to undertake was begun at 
once, the Secretary assuming the responsibility of apply- 
ing thereto moneys available for general purposes of the 
kind. It was obvious, however, that the expenditure 
would continue indefinitely and ultimately amount to a 
very large sum. In face of the recent formal prohibition 
of Congress to begin new works, it seemed desirable, in 
order to justify the Secretary in applying means at his 
command, or in calling upon Congress for further appro- 
priations, that some other sanction than the irresponsible 
will of the chief engineer of the defenses should be 
obtained, not only for the course taken, but also for the 
judiciousness of the plans proposed for its execution. A 
commission consisting of Brevet Brigadier General J. G. 
Totten, Chief Engineer, United States Army; Brigadier 
General M. C. Meigs, Quartermaster General, United 

[38] 



I'HE DEFENSES 

States Army, formerly of the United States Engineers; 
Brigadier General W. F. Barry, chief of artillery ; Brig- 
adier General J. G. Barnard, Crief Engineer Defenses 
of Washington ; Brigadier General G. W. Cullum, United 
States Engineers, chief of staff to the General-in-Chief, 
was appointed by the Secretary of War October 25, 18G2, 
"to examine and report npon a plan of the present forts 
and snfficiency of the present system of defenses for the- 
city." The commission devoted two months to the study 
and personal examination of the system. As no morei 
antlioritative exposition can be given, I shall quote fromi 
their report at some length : 

The system of works constituting what are called the 
defenses of Washington may be divided into four 
groups : 

First. Those south of the Potomac, commencing with 
Fort Lyon below Alexandria, and terminating with Fort 
De Kalb opposite Georgetown. 

Second. Those of the Chain Bridge. 

Third. Those north of the Potomac, between that river 
and the Anacostia, commencing with Fort Sumner and 
terminating with Fort Lincoln. 

Fourth. Those south of the Eastern Branch, com- 
mencing with Fort Mahan, and terminating with Fort 
Greble, nearly opposite Alexandria. 

The perimeter thus occujDied, not counting the interval 
from Fort Greble to Fort Lyon, is about 33 miles, or, 
including that, 37 miles. 

In the first group are 23 field forts. In the second 
group two forts (Ethan Allen and Marcy) and three 
batteries for field guns. In the third are 18 forts, 4 bat- 
teries, permanently armed with heavy guns, besides about 
14 batteries for field guns, some of which are of heavy 
profile, with stockaded gorges and magazines. In the 
fourth group are eleven forts, besides the armed battery 
connected with Fort Carroll. There are therefore in the 
whole system as it now exists (December, 1862,) 53 forts 
and 22 batteries. 

[8»] 



WASilll^GTON DtJRiKG WAR TIME 

The total armament actually mounted in the different 
works, at the date of this report, is 643 guns and 75 
mortars. 

The total infantry garrisons required for their defense, 
computed at 2 men per yard of front perimeter, and 1 
man per yard of rear perimeter, is about 25,000. 

The total number of artillerymen required (to furnish 
three reliefs for each gun) is about 9,000. It is seldom 
necessary to keep the infantr}^ supports attached to the 
works. 

The artillerymen, whose training requires much time, 
having learned the disposition of the armament, and com- 
puted the distances of the ground over which attacks 
may be looked for, and the ranges and service of their 
guns, should not be changed; they should remain perma- 
nently in the forts. 

The 25,000 infantry should be encamped in such posi- 
tions as may be most convenient to enable them, in case 
of alarm, to garrison the several Avorks; and a force of 
3,000 cavalry should be available for outpost duty, to 
give notice of the approach of an enemy. 

Whenever an enemy is within striking distance of the 
Capital, able by a rapid march to attempt a coiip-cle- 
main^ which might result in the temjDorary occupation of 
the city, the dispersion of the Government, and the 
aestruction of the archives, all of which could be accom- 
plished by a single day's possession, a covering army of 
not less than 25,000 men should be held in position, ready 
to march to meet the attacking column. 

Against more serious attacks from the main body of 
the enemy, the Capital must depend u])on the concentra- 
tion of its entire armies in Virginia or Maryland. They 
should precede or follow any movement of the enemy 
seriously threatening the Capital. 

The various operations recommended by the commis- 
sion, sanctioned by the Secretary of War, were prose- 
cuted with great vigor during the early part of the j^ear 
1863. The new works recommended were entirely com- 
pleted during that year, and ready indeed to render 

[40] 



THE DEFENSES 

efficient service by the time the season of active field 
operations commenced. That on the spur behind Forts 
Cass and Woodbury — Fort AVhipple — and that at the 
Red House, Fort C. F. Smith, became the most perfect 
and beautiful specimens of what may be called "semi- 
permanent'' field works. So also was Fort Foote, 
designed as a w^ater battery in conjunction with Battery \ 
Rodgers. 

The operations- of 1864 (during the latter half of the 
year) under charge of Lieutenant-Colonel B. S. Alex- 
ander, whose aid during their whole progress had been 
of great value to the chief engineer, were confined mainly 
to the repairing, strengthening, and perfecting existing 
works. An exception to the above statement is to be 
found in the beginning of a large fort, styled Fort 
McPherson (but never completed), behind Fort Craig, 
to fill the gap in the second line, between Forts AVhipple 
and Albany, and of three small worlvs over the Anacostia, 
betv>"een Forts Mahan and Meigs. 

Thus, from a few isolated worlds covering bridges or 
commanding a few especially important points, was 
developed a connected system of fortification by which 
every prominent point, at intervals of 800 to 1,000 j^ards, 
was occupied by an inclosed field- fort, every important 
approach or depression of ground, unseen from the forts, 
swept by a battery for field-guns and the whole con- 
nected by rifie-trenches which w^ere in fact lines of 
infantry parapet, furnishing emplacement for two ranks 
of men and affording covered communication along the 
line, while roads were opened wherever necessary, so that 
troops and artiller}^ could be moved rapidly from one 
point of the immense periphery to another, or under 
cover, from point to point along the line. 

The woods which prevailed along many parts of the 

[41] 



WASHINGTON DURING WAR TIMK 

line were cleared for a mile or two in front of the works 
the counterscarps of which were surrounded by abattis. 
Bomb-proofs were provided in nearly all the forts; all 
guns not solely intended for distant fire, placed in 
embrasure and well traversed; secure and well-ventilated 
magazines ample to contain 100 rounds per gun, con- 
structed ; the original crude structures, built after designs 
given in text-books for "field fortifications," replaced by 
others, on plans experience developed, or which the 
increased powers of modern artillery made necessary. 
All commanding points on which an eneni}^ would be 
likely to concentrate artillery to overpower that of one 
or more of our forts or batteries were subjected not only 
to the fires, direct and cross, of many points along the 
line, but also from heavy rifled guns from distant points 
unattainable by the enemy's field-guns. With all these 
developments the lines certainly approximated to the 
maximum degree of strength which can be attained 
from unrevetted earth-works. When in July, 18G4, 
Early appeared before Washington, all the artillery reg- 
iments which had constituted the garrisons of the works 
and who were experienced in the use of the artillery, had 
been withdrawn and their places mainly filled by a few 
regiments of "one hundred days men," just mustered 
into the service. The advantage, under these circum- 
stances, of established lines of infantry perapet, and 
prepared emplacements for field guns, can hardly be 
overestimated. Bodies of hastily organized men, such as 
teamsters, quartermaster's men, citizen volunteers, etc., 
sent out to the lines, could hardly go amiss. Under other 
circumstances it would have been almost impossible 
speedily to have got them into any proper position and 
to have kept them in it. With equal facility the mova- 
ble batteries of field guns found, without a moraei^*' 

[42] 



THE DEFENSES 

delay, their appropriate places where, covered by the 
enemy's fire, they occupied the very best positions which 
the topography afforded. 

At the termination of the war in April, 1865, the 
"defenses of Washington" consisted of 68 inclosed forts 
and batteries having an aggregate perimeter of 22,800 
yards (13 miles) and emplacements for 1,120 guns, 807 
of which and 98 mortars were actually mounted; of 93 
unarmed batteries for field-guns having 401 emplace- 
ments; and of 35,711 yards (20 miles) of rifle trenches, 
and 3 block houses. Thirty-two miles of military roads, 
besides the existing roads of the District and the avenues 
of Washington, served as the means of communication 
from the interior to the defensive lines, and from point 
to point thereof. The entire circuit, including the dis- 
tance across the Potomac from Fort Greble to Fort Lyon 
(four miles), was thirty-seven miles. 




Bomb-Proof Fort Near "Washington. 

[43] 



\ 



The Part taken by the Naval Forces ^n the 
Defense of Washington During th(, Civil 
War : 

By EICHARD AYAINWRIGHT 

Commander U. S. Navy and Superintendent Naiml 

Academy 

HE first order issued to the 
Naval Forces for the pro- 
tection of Washington was 
dated January 5, 18G1, 
signed by Isaac Toucey. 
Secretary of the Na'^^y, and 
addressed to Col one J John 
Harris, Comniandairt, IMa- 
rinc Corps, di recti ng^ that a 
force of Mai'ines be sent to 
Fort Washington, down the 
Potomac, for tlie protec- 
tion of public property. 
Forty men, commanded by Captain A. S. Taylor, IT. S. 
Marine Corps, were sent in obedience to this order. 

Under pressure from Commander J. A. Dniilgren, 
Commodore Franklin Buchanan, Commandant of the 
Washington Yard, on February 1, issued an order for the 
defense of the yard and prescribing the necessary organ- j 
ization and points for assembling. On April 22, Commo- 
dore Buchanan resigned and soon after joined the 
Confederate Navy. Commander Dahlgren now became 

_ [44] . 




Secretary WeUes. 



PART TAKEN BY THE NAVAL FORCES 

commandant and all available means for defense were 
put in shape. 
On April 19, the Pawnee^ Commander Rowan, arrived 
\ off the AVashington Arsenal and on the following day the 
> packet Anacdstia was armed and sent, under the com- 
' mand of Lieutenant Fillebrown, down the Potomac to 
Kettle Bottom Shoals, to prevent obstructions being 
placed in the river. The Mount Vernori having been 
' seized by the army at Alexandria, was armed for service. 
, The Steamer Pocahontas^ Commander J. P. Gillis, 
arrived from New York and Avas ordered to cruise down 
the river as far as the ''White House." A number of 
other small river steamers and tugs were armed at this 
time. Tliey were employed in patrolling the river, in 
preserving and placing the aids to navigation, and over- 
hauling all boats on the river for arms, etc. Among 
these armed boats Avere the Powhatan^ Lieutenant Spros- 
ton commanding; the Philadelphia^ Lieutenant G. N. 
Morris and afterwards Lieutenant W. N. Jeffers, com- 
manding; the Rohert Leslie^ Lieutenant J. H. Russell, 
conmuuiding; and the Baltimore^ Lieutenant W. C. West, 
conmianding. 

Early in May Commander J. H. Ward was assigned 
to the charge of the Potomac flotilla. He had suggested 
the ideii to the Secretary of the Navy and brought several 
light draft boats from Ncav York to form a part of the 
flotilla. 

The first Confederate batterv on the Potomac was clis- 
covered at Aquia Creek on INIay 14 by Lieutenant Spros- 
ton, and was afterwards reported by several of the 
patrolling boats. 

On May 24, all the steamers, lighters, and boats at the 
NaA^y Yard were used to convey the New York Regiment 
of Zouaves (Ellsworth's Fire Zouaves) from Giesboro 

[45] 



WASHINGTON DURING WAR TIME 

Point to Alexandria. It was immediately after this land- 
ing that Colonel Ellsworth Avas murdered. 

On May 31, Commander Ward with the Thomas Free- 
horn^ the Anacostia, and the Resolute, of the Potomac 
Flotilla, attacked the batteries at Aquia Creek. On the 
following day, the bombardment was attempted, the ships 
being reinforced by the Pawnee, Connnander Rowan. On 
the 2Gth, the bombardment ended without injury to either 
side. The shore batteries were silenced only to break out 
again, on the cessation of firing from the vessels per- 
mitting the men to leave their protection. 

On June 23, Commander Ward applied for (lie aid of 
about two hundred soldiers to assist him in the attack 
upon some Confederate troops at Mathias Point. These 
troops could not be spared, and on June 27 with the aid 
of boat's crew from the Pawnee, commanded by Lieu- 
tenant Chaplin, he landed the men from the Freehorii 
and attacked the Confederate troops at Mathias Point, 
with the aid of the guns of the Freehorn. The landing 
party was repulsed, and Captain Ward was killed while 
sia'htinc: the bow ffun of his own vessel. Commander 
T. T. Craven was then ordered to command the Potomac 
Flotilla. 

In the latter part of July, Lieutenant Parker, with one 
hundred and ten seamen and forty marines, was sent to 
Fort Ellsworth bej^ond Alexandria. The}^ laid the plat- 
forms and mounted a naval battery of thr^e 9-inch guns 
and five howitzers. This was a joint occupancy with the 
Army, Fort Ellsworth being at the time the fort nearest 
the Confederate lines, Fort Munson being their opposing 
fort. Lieutenant Parker was afterwards relieved, and 
Commander R. Wainwright was sent in command of a 
detachment of three hundred seamen and four officers to 
inan this Fort. Afterwards a guard of thirty marines was 

[46] 



o 

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td 
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a 

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tr<3 

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f 






i 



WASHINGTON DURING WAR TIME 

added to the force, and manned a small water battery 
erected near the Fort. The entire force was withdrawn in 
November. 

Commander Charles Wilkes was ordered to command 
the Potomac Flotilla in August, 18()2. He was succeeded 
in September of the same year by Commodore Andrew 
A. Harwood, who was relieved in December, 1863, by 
Commander Foxhall A. Parker. After November, 1861, 
the work of the Navy in the defense of Washington Avas 
confined to patrolling the Potomac River. On several 
occasions, on the request of the General in command of 
the Arni}^ of the Potomac, the Commander of the flotilla 
was specially cautioned to prevent the passage of the 
Potomac River l.n^ the Confederate Army. The}^ grad- 
ually obtained possession of the boats on the river. At 
times thev Avere attacked bv the Confederates from com- 
manding positions on shore, but there were no other 
engagements on the river of sufficient importance to be 
noted. 




A War-Time View of the Washing-ton Navy Yard. 



[48] 



Early's March to Washington 




By THOMAS McCUKDY VINCENT 

Brigadier General^ hy hrevet^ U, S. Army 

FTER the battle of New 
Market, May 15, 1864, Major 
General Hunter assumed 
command of the Department 
of West Virginia, at Cedar 
Creek, May 21; and the 
Lynchburg expedition, 
throuo'h the Army of the 
Shenandoah, assumed prom- 
inence. Hunter started with 
about 8.500 men of all arms, 

General M. C. Meig:s. ^^^^ ^^^^^ Uniting with CrOok 

and Averill his force was about 18,000. During the ad- 
vance of the Army of the Shenandoah it was successful in 
several actions, and on June 14, 1864, Secretary Stanton 
telegraphed to General Hunter : 

This Department has received, with great satisfaction, 
your special dispatch (June 8) announcing the recent 
brilliant victory won by your arm}^, and their occupation 
(June 6) of the city of Staunton. These brilliant achieve- 
ments wipe out the antecedent disasters to our army in 
former campaigns in the Shenandoah Valley, and induce 
strong hope that, led on by the courage and guided by the 
experienced skill of its commander, the Army of the 
Shenandoah will rival other gallant armies in the suc- 
cessful blows against the rebels. For yourself and the 
brave officers and soldiers of your command the thanks 
of the President and of this Departoent are tendered* 



.4 



m 



WASHINGTON DURING WAR TIME 

Unfortunately the great satisfaction, as thus an- 
nounced, was followed by the heavy gloom connected with 
subsequent important operations. 

Lieutenant-General Jubal A. Early's forces of the 
Confederate Army of Northern Virginia moved from 
Gaines' Mill to Lynchburg, to defend that place from 
Hunter's meditated attack; to strike Hunter's force in 
the rear, and, if possible, to destroy it; then to move 
down the Shenandoah Valle}", and to cross the Potomac 
at Leesburg, or at, or above. Harper's Ferry, as might 
be found most practicable. Early has said: "General 
Lee did not expect me to be able to enter Washington. 
His orders were merely to threaten the city ; and, when I 
suggested to him the idea of capturing it he said it would 
be impossible." As to this movement General Early, in 
a telegram dated Jimc IG, 1864, sent to General Breckin- 
ridge at Lynchburg said: "My first object is to destroy 
Hunter, and the next it is not prudent to trust to tele- 
graph. Hold on and you Avill be amply supported." 
Hunter failed in his attempt on Lvnchburg, and, owing 
to want of ammunition, retired from before the place and 
fell back into West Virginia. He was pursued by Early's 
force for three davs — about GO miles — until Hunter 
reached the mountains, en route by way of Salem and 
Lewisburg. He left Charleston, Kanawha, July 3, and 
reached Parlrersburg July 4, by water. June 22 the 
pursuit ceased, as Early did not deem it proper to con- 
tinue it. Sheridan, during his Trevilian Station cavalry 
raid, Avas to have united, by way of Charlottesville, with 
Hunter at Lynchburg, and their combined forces were to 
have destroyed Lee's communications and depots, and 
then to have joined Grant before Richmond. After the 
severe battle at Trevilian Station, Sheridan learned, from 
prisoners, that Hunter instead of coming to Charlottes- 

[50] 



early's march 

ville was near Lexington, moving upon Lynchburg; that 
Early's corps was on its way to Lynchburg; and that 
Breckinridge was at Gordonsville. Therefore, he con- 
ckided to return to the Army of the Potomac. Hunter's 
movements had rendered it impracticable for Sheridan 
to execute his orders in the presence of the cavalry forces 
of Hampton and Fitz Lee. In communicating with one 
of Hunter's subordinates as to this movement, Stanton 
said : "General Sheridan, who was sent by General Grant 
to open communication with General Hunter by way of 
Charlottesville, has just returned to York liiver without 
effecting his object. It is therefore very probable that 

General Hunter will be compelled to fall back into West 

V,, 
irginia. 

Early, after his pursuit of Hunter had ceased, became 
subject to the orders of General Lee directing him, "after 
disposing of Hunter," to return to Lee's army, or to 
carry out the original plan of an expedition across the 
Potonuic. Early determined to take the responsibility 
of the latter. He marched to Buchanan, June 23, reached 
Staunton in advance of his troops on the 2Gth, his troops 
arriving on the 2Tth, and on the 28th resumed the march, 
after detaching portions of his corps to destroy the rail- 
road bridge over the south branch of the Potomac, and 
all the bridges on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad 
between the south branch and Martinsburg. On July 2 
he was in Winchester, and there received orders "to 
destroy the Baltimore and Ohio road and the Chesapeake 
and Ohio Canal, as far as possible." On July 3 the Union 
forces evacuated Martinsburg, skirmished with and 
fought the enemy en route, and during the night retreated 
across the Potomac, at Shepherdstown, to Maryland 
Heights. During the night of July 4 the Union forces 
evacuated Harper's Ferry, burning the Potomac railroad 

[51] 



WASHINGTON DURING WAR TIME 

and pontoon bridges. It was not until the 5th that 
General Grant was positive that Early was not in front 
of Richmond ! 

On July 5 and 6, Early's troops crossed the Potomac 
at Shepherdstown, a detachment advancing towards 
Maryland Heights, when the Union forces there took 
position in the works. Early has said: "My desire had 
been to manoeuvre the enemy out of Maryland Heights, 
so as to move directly to Washington; but he had taken 
refuge in his strongly fortified works, and I therefore 
determined to moA^e through the gaps of South Mountain, 
north of the Heights." At an early hour on the morning 
of July 8, the entire force moved ; a part through Cramp- 
ton's Gap; another through Fox's Gap; and a third 
through Boonsboro' Gap with the trains and rear-guard 
which had started the night before from Harper's Ferry, 
after burning the trestle railroad works. Early had been 
informed by General Lee that an effort would be made 
to release the prisoners of war at Point Lookout ; and he 
was directed to take steps to unite them with his com- 
mand. Early has said : * * * "On the 9th, Johnson with 
his brigade of cavalry and horse artillery, moved to the 
north of Frederick, with orders to strike the railroads 
from Baltimore to Harrisburg and Philadelphia, burn the 
bridges over the Gunpowder, also to cut the railroad 
between Washington and Baltimore, and threaten the 
latter place; and then, if we should succeed in getting 
into Washington, to move towards Point Lookout for 
the purpose of releasing the prisoners." The other 
troops moved towards Monocacy Junction. The battle of 
the Monocacy was fought on the 9th, and on the 10th the 
victorious Confederate army moved at daylight, and 
bivouacked that afternoon at and near Eockville. Thence, 
at daylight on the 11th, the movement was resumed ; and 

[62] 



early's march 



Early rode ahead, on the Seventh Street pike, arriving 
in sight of Fort Stevens a shorl time after noon. There- 
upon he ordered his advance division to form line as 
rapidly as possible, throw out skirmishers, and move 
into the works, if it could be done; but, before the divi- 
sion could be brought up, a column of Union troops 
entered the works, skirmishers were thrown out in front, 
and an artillery fire opened upon the Confederate force. 
The attempted surprise was thus defeated, and it became 
necessary for Early to reconnoiter, which consumed the 
remainder of the day, with the result that he determined 
to make an assault upon the works at daylight the morn- 
ing of the 12th. That morning "as soon as it was light 
enough to see," Early "rode to the front and found the 
parapet lined w^ith troops." After that discovery we have 
his own words : 'T had, therefore, reluctantly, to give up 
all hopes of capturing Washington after I had arrived 
in sight of the dome of the Capitol and given the Federal 
authorities a terrible fright." The Sixth Corps had 
arrived the evening of the 11th; and Major General Alex- 
ander McD. McCook, in command of the northern line 
of defense, "deemed it absolutely necessary that the 
immediate front should be picketed by experienced men." 
Accordingly, he directed Major General Horatio G. 
Wright "to furnish a force 900 strong of this (his) Vet- 
eran Corps for picket duty during the night, constant 
skirmishing being kept up between the lines until after 
dark on the 11th." Troops from that corps, also, at 
6 p. M. on the 12th, made the successful assault upon the 
two important points held by the enemy; and the Sixth 
Corps was selected because McCook, as said by him, 
believed that its veterans could do the work better, and 
with less loss of life, than any other troops under his 
command. 

[53] 



WASHINGTON DURING WAR TIME 

"Inadequately manned as the fortifications (of Wash- 
ington) were, they compelled, at least, concentration on 
the part of the assailants, and thus gave time for the 
arrival of succor." The Third Division of the Sixth 
Corps, which had been detaclied by way of Baltimore, 
contributed, mainly, to the delay of Early's forces at the 
Monocacy, and that dehiy proved important in connec- 
tion with the timely arrival of the other two Sixth Corps 
Divisions, under the command of Wright. At the battle 
of the Monocacy, July D, tlie Third Division of the Sixth 
Corps, under Major General James B. Kicketts, fought, 
practically, as an out-post force, in aid of the First and 
Second Divisions of that Corps, at the time on the way 
to Washington. Therefore it is pertinent that the part 
performed by the Third Division should be noted, for it 
had much to do connected with the march of Early. ' 

Major General Lewis AVallace, who commanded at the 
battle of the Monocacy, and fought from 9 a. m. to 5 p. jni., 
telegraphed, July 9, to General Halleck : 

* * * I am retreating a foot-sore, battered, and half 
demoralized column. * * * You will have to use every 
exertion to save Baltimore and AVashington. * * * I 
think that the troops of the Sixth Corps fought magnifi- 
cently. I was totally overwhelmed by a force from the 
direction of Harper's Ferry arriving during the battle. 
Two fresh regiments of the Sixth Corps are covering my 
retreat. I shall' try to get to Baltimore. 

AVallace reported more fully from Ellicott's Mills, on 
July 10, to General Halleck, in part as follows : 

* * * The column of cavalry and artillery of the enemy 
worked rapidly around to my left and crossed the river 
in face of my guard and charged confidently upon 
General Kicketts' Third Division, Sixth Army Corps. 
The General changed front and repulsed them, and 
charged in turn and drove them gallantly. The enemy 

[54] 



EARLY^S MARCH 

then advanced a second line. This the General repulsed 
and drove. Meanwhile the enemy placed at least two bat- 
teries in 230sition, so that Avhen he made his final charge 
with four lines of infantry, about 3 :30 p. ivi., the resistance 
of Ricketts' Division was under an enfilading fire of shell 
really terrific. The moment I saw^ the third rebel line 
advance I ordered the General to make such preparation 
as he could and retire his command by a country road up 
the river to the Baltimore jDike. Tliis was accomplished 
with an extraordinary steacliness. The men of the Third 
Division were not whipped, but retired reluctantly under 
my orders. They bore the brunt of the battle w^ith a cool- 
ness and steadiness which, I venture to say, has not been 
exceeded in any battle during the war. Too much credit 
cannot be given General Ricketts for his skill and cour- 
age. * * * Each one of his (the enemy) four lines of 
attack presented a front greater than that of General 
Ricketts' Division all deployed. * * * 

I had three objects in view^: first, to keep open, if pos- 
sible, the communication with Harper's Ferry ; second, to 
cover the roads to Washington and Baltimore; the last, to 
make the enemy develop his force. * * * 

The men of the Sixth Corps reached this place (Elli- 
cott's Mills) in perfect order, and covered the retreat. 

On July 10, Major General Wright, from the head- 
quarters of the Sixth Army Corps — then at Fort Stevens 
with the First and Second Divisions — in transmitting a 
copy of the report from General AVallace presenting the 
part taken by Ricketts' Third Division at the Monocacy, 
said : "The terms in which General Wallace commends 
the conduct of General Ricketts' Division is no more than 
I expected, but is so complimentary that I take pleasure 
in bringing it to the notice of the Military Authorities." 

In August, 18G4, General Wallace made his report in 
full of the operations of his command in the vicinity of 
Frederick, Maryland, which resulted in the battle of !Mo- 
nocacy, July 9 ; and to that report he appended his 

[55] 



WASHINGTON DURING WAR TIME 

informal report, July 10, from Ellicott's Mills. On July 
5, from information that he had received, he viewed that 
the probable objectives of Early's forces were reduced to 
Washington, Baltimore, and Maryland Heights; and, as 
to that situation, he has said: 

* * * With an enemy north of the Potomac, and 
approaching from the west, having in view any or all the 
objectives mentioned, the importance of the position on 
which I ultimately gave battle cannot be overestimated. 
There, within the space of two miles, converge the pikes 
to Washington and Baltimore, and the Baltimore and 
Ohio Railroad; there also is the iron bridge over the 
Monocac}^, upon Avhich depends communication to Har- 
per's Ferry. Moreover, as a defensive position for an 
army seeking to cover the cities above mentioned from the 
direction I Avas threatened, the point is very strong; the 
river covers its entire front. In the low stage of water 
the fords are few, and particularly difficult for artillery, 
and the commanding heights are all on the eastern banks, 
while the ground on the opposite side is level and almost 
without obstruction. 

After General Wallace had, actively and carefully, 
matured his plans and determined the place for battle, 
he telegraphed to General Halleck, July 8 : "I shall with- 
draw immediately from Frederick City and put myself 
in position to cover road to Washington if necessary;" 
and in the morning of July 9, he made disposition for 
battle. The right, forming an extended line, from the 
railroad,was given to General E. B. Tyler. His troops — 
scant 2,500 of all arms — were, with the exception of one 
regiment and part of another of the Potomac Home 
Brigade and a Maryland battery, "100 days men." On 
the left, likely to be the main point of attack. General 
Ricketts was directed to form his command — 3,350 men — 
in two lines across the Washington pike, so as to hold the 

un 



early's march 



rising ground south of it, and the wooden bridge across 
the river; and still further to the left was placed Clen- 
denin's Squadron of Cavalry, to watch that flank and 
guard, by detachments, the lower fords. Ricketts and 
Tyler each received three guns, and later Ricketts was 
given two additional. 

It is not necessary to recite the details of the battle, so 
fully and candidly given in the reports of General Wal- 
lace, but his following words may be quoted: 

* * * It would be a difficult task to say too much in 
praise of the veterans who made this fight. For their 
reputation and for the truth's sake, I wish it distinctly 
understood that though the appearance of the enemy's 
fourth line of battle made their ultimate defeat certain, 
they were not whipped ; on the contrary, they were fight- 
ing steadily in unbroken front when I ordered their 
retirement, all the shame of which, if shame there was, is 
mine, not theirs. The nine regiments (First and Second 
Brigades, Third Division, Sixth Corps) enumerated as 
those participating in the action represented but 3,500 
men, of whom over 1,600 were missing three days after, 
killed, wounded, or prisoners — lost on the field. The fact 
speaks for itself. "Monocacy" on their flags cannot be a 
word of dishonor. * * * As to General Ricketts, atten- 
tion is respectfully called to the mention made of him 
in the (previous report). Every word of it is as deserved 
as it was bravely earned. * * * 

It is also certain, as one of the results, that notwith- 
standing the disparity of forces the enemy was not able to 
move from the battle-field in prosecution of his march 
upon Washington until the next day about noon. * * * 

General Grant has said : 

I had previously ordered General Meade to send a 
division to Baltimore for the purpose of adding to the 
defenses of Washington, and he sent Ricketts' Division 
of the Sixth Corps (Wright's), which arrived in Balti- 
more on the 8th of July. Finding that Wallace had gone 

[57] 



early's march 

to the front with his command, Ricketts immediately took 
the cars and followed him to the Monocacy with his entire 
division. They met the enemy, and, as might have been 
expected, were defeated; but they succeeded in stopping 
him for the day on which the battle took place. The 
next morning Early started on his march to the Capital 
of the nation, arriving before it on the 11th.* 

Learning of the gravity of the situation, I had directed 
General Meade to also order Wright, with the rest of his 
corps, directly to Washington for the relief of that jDlace, 
and the latter reached there the very day that Early 
arrived before it. 

The act of February 24, 18G4, established "the will of 
the President as the authority for raising troops"; and, 
March 14, a call was made for 200,000, and April 23, for 
85,000, numbers that indicate an energetic struggle for 
the Union, and in July, we had in service about 900,000 
in the aggregate. Notwithstanding that vast force, Wash- 
ington was not prepared for defense by the 31,000 aggre- 
gate present July 10, composed mainly of invalids, 
military hospital guards, recruits under instruction, and 
provisional forces. The Department of Washington had 
been stripped of veterans, sent to aid important opera- 
tions elsewhere ; and the 944 heavy guns in the forts were 
without skilled men to fire them. Consequently, it is 
not astounding that in late June and early July, con- 
sternation reigned supreme. Aside from the impaired 
finances of the Government and the fear of foreign inter- 
vention, the tentacula of Early's army had broken 
railroads and destroyed much property; Washington and 
Baltimore were filled with fugitives ; two passenger trains 



*In connection with Early's march, reference may be had to his 
report, July 14, 1864, from Leesburg-, Va., and the transmittal, 
July 19, by General Robert E. Lee, commanding- the Confederate 
Army of Northern Virginia, to the Confederate War Department, 
pages 346-7-8-9, Vol. 37, Part 1, Records of the Union and Con- 
federate Armies. 



[59] 



WASHINGTON DURING WAR TIME 

on the rail, between Philadelphia and Baltimore, had 
been upset and destroyed by the enemy — Major General 
William B. Franklin captured in one of them; the 
forces in the Department of West Virginia were par- 
alyzed; troops from Pennsylvania and New York were 
hard to obtain, and important movements of the Army of 
the Potomac had been delayed. Moreover, in Kentucky, 
conditions were assuming a troubled appearance; ex- 
ternal raids and internal troubles in other States promised 
a warm summer's work ; a treasonable and forged procla- 
mation, in the name of President Lincoln, calling for 
400,000 men, and appointing May 26 as a day of fasting 
and prayer had, through deception and fraud, been 
imposed upon j)rominent journals, and by them published, 
to the injury of the Union cause; Cincinnati and Camp 
Chase were thought of as probable objectives for a raid; 
the Navy was applied to for gun-boats to patrol the river 
between Louisville and AVheeling, thus to protect Ohio; 
Indian troubles existed in the West, tending in one 
instance to international complications ; and organizations 
were reported, throughout the Western States, having for 
an object the destruction of Government property and 
to burn the vast Government depots at St. Louis and 
Indianapolis. In June, while tlie aggregate of the Union 
forces, present and absent, was very large, the aggregate 
present was only G83,058 ! 

Under such adverse conditions, the President, in almost 
utter despair, telegraphed July 10, 2 :30 p. m., to General 
Grant as follows: * * * "General Plalleck says we have 
absolutely no force here fit to take the field. * * * Wal- 
lace, with some odds and ends and part of what came up 
with Ricketts, was so badly beaten yesterday at Mono- 
cacy that what is left can attempt no more than to defend 
Baltimore. * * * What we shall get in from Pennsyl- 

[60] 



early's march 



vania and New York will be scarcely worth counting, I 
fear. * * * Now, what I think is that you should provide 
to retain your hold where jon are, certainly, and bring 
the rest with you, personally, and make a vigorous effort 
to destroy the enemy's force in this vicinity." * * * That 
date, 10 :30 p. m. Grant replied that he had sent the Sixth 
Corps, commanded by an excellent officer, besides over 
3,000 other troops and one division of the Nineteenth 
Corps. He added: "Before more troops can be sent 
from here. Hunter will be able to join Wright in the 
rear of the enemy, with at least 10,000 men, besides a force 
sufficient to hold Maryland Heights." * * * Here it is 
well to note that Hunter was forced to remain at Cumber- 
land until July 14, "pressing forward his troops who 
continued to arrive slowly from the West" — that date 
he left Cumberland, reached Martinsburg (occupied by 
Sullivan's Union Cavalry on the 10th) and arrived at 
Harper's Ferry, on horseback, the same night. The 
morning of the 14th, Early had crossed the Potomac at 
White's Ford, and continued his retreat. 

When Early's Army reached the gates of Washington, 
and its able commander, from his position at Fort 
Stevens, gazed upon the dome of the Capitol, it is evident 
that could he have unfurled the Confederate colors from 
that dome, "it would have been the signal of 'recognition' 
by those foreign powers whose open influence and active 
agency was likely to be too willingly thrown, with what- 
ever plausible pretext, into the scale of dismemberment, 
to become decisive of the event." The enemy was at 
Fort Stevens, with good chances of occupying Washing- 
ton, dispersing the United States Government, and 
destroying the archives — all of which could have been 
completed by a single day's possession. 

Lincoln's presence at Fort Stevens proved a grand 

[61] 



WASHINGTON DURING WAR TIME 

inspiration to the troops defending the Capital. The 
army recognized him ns the foremost of the men who 
were "alive to the great questions of the hour, and watch- 
ing the development of minds and of events." With his 
military service in the Black Hawk AYar, as a basis, his 
subsequent study, particularly /rom 18G1 to 18G5, devel- 
oped him "into a great military man, that is to say a 
man of supreme military judgment." We have the 
evidence of this through the pointed questions and mem- 
oranda propounded by him, and submitted to his generals, 
durinir the Civil War. 




On the Parapet at Fort Stevens. 



AVhen the Sixth Corps arrived, the President's anxiety 
Avas so heavy that he Avent to the Seventh Street wharf to 
welcome the troops and to inspire them to move, Avith 
haste, to Fort Stevens; and at that fort his fearlessness, 
characteristic of his entire life, led him to expose himself 
to the bullets of the enemy until he was forced to occupy 

[mi 



early's march 

a safe position behind the parapet. That marked bravery, 
of the Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy, gave 
magnificent encouragement to the forces defending the 
fort! 

The Sixth Corps, under the distinguished Wright, 
saved Washington ! Halleck telegraphed to Grant on 
Julv 13: 

The enemy fell back during the night. * * * From the 
most reliable estimates Ave can get of the enemy's force, 
it num-bers 22,000 to 25,000, exclusive of cavalrv. Thev 
state that a part of Hill's Corps is coming to reinforce 
them, and, that, Avithout them, they Avould have captured 
Washington, if the Sixth Corps had not arrived. 

The historic battlefield of Fort Stevens should, for all 
time, stand Avell to the front in the memory of the people, 
as a sacred place of inspiration. Fort StcA^ens should be 
perpetuated in granite — at least the place Avhere Lincoln 
stood — and be the base for figures in bronze, of Lincoln 
and Wright ! 

So intense Avas the gloom preceding the battle of Fort 
Stevens, that, July 7, the President promulgated, as 
expressive of the sense of the Congress of the United 
States, the folloAving self-explanatory Proclamation: 

By the President of the United States: 
A PEOCLAMATION. 

Whereas, the Senate and House of Representatives at 
their last session adopted a concurrent resolution, Avliich 
Avas appoA^ed on the second day of July instant, and 
AAdiich Avas in the Avords folloAving, namely: 

That the President of the United States be requested to 
appoint a day for humiliation and prayer by the people 
of the United States; that he request his constitutional 

L«3] 



WASHINGTON DURING WAR TIME 

advisers at the head of the Executive Departments to 
unite with him as Chief Magistrate of the Nation, at the 
city of Washington, and the members of Congress, and all 
magistrates, all civil, military, and naval officers, all 
soldiers, sailors, and marines, with all loyal and law-abid- 
ing people, to convene at their usual places of worship, 
or Avherever the}^ may be, to confess and rej^ent of their 
manifold sins; to implore the compassion and forgiveness 
of the Almighty, that, if consistent with His will, the 
existing rebellion may be speedily suppressed, and the 
supremacy of the Constitution and laws of the United 
States may be established throughout all the States; to 
implore Him, as the Supreme Ruler of the Avorld, not to 
destroy us as a people, nor suffer us to be destroyed by the 
hostility or connivance of other nations, or by obstinate 
adhesion to our own counsels Avhich may be in conflict 
with His eternal purposes, and to implore Him to en- 
lighten the mind of the Nation to know and to do His 
will, humbly believing that it is in accordance with His 
will that our place should be maintained as a united 
people among the family of nations; to implore Him to 
grant to our armed defenders and the masses of the people 
that courage, power of resistance, and endurance neces- 
sary to secure that result ; to implore Him and His infinite 
goodness to soften the hearts, enlighten the minds, and 
quicken the consciences of those in rebellion that they 
lay down their arms and speedily return to their allegi- 
ance to the United States, that they may not be utterly 
destro^^ed, that the effusion of blood may be stayed, and 
that imity and fraternity may be restored, and peace 
established throughout our borders. 

Now, therefore, T, Abraham Lincoln, President of the 
United States, cordially concurring with the Congress of 
the United States in the penitential and pious sentiments 
expressed in the aforesaid resolution, and heartily ap- 
proving of the devotional design and purpose thereof, do 
hereby appoint the first Thursday of August next to be 
observed by the people of the United States as a day of 
national humiliation and prayer. 

I do hereby further invite and request the beads of the 

[64] 



early's march 

Executive Departments of this Government, together 
with all legislators, all judges and magistrates, and all 
other persons exercising authority in the land, whether 
civil, military, or naval, and all soldiers, seamen, and 
marines in the National service, and all the other loyal 
and law-abiding people of the United States, to assemble 
in their preferred places of public worship on that day, 
and there and then to render to the Almighty and Merci- 
ful Ruler of the uniA'erse such homages and such confes- 
sions, and to offer to Him such supplications as the 
Congress of the United States have in their aforesaid 
resolution so solemnly, so earnestly, and so reverently 
recommended. 

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and 
caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. 

Done at the city of Washington this seventh day of 
July, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred 
and sixty-four, and of the Independence of the United 
States the eighty-ninth. 

(L. S.) Abraham Lincoln. 

By the President : William H. Seward, 

Secretary of State. 

The supplications of the people, offered to the Supreme 
Ruler of the world : That the Civil War might be sup- 
pressed and the supremacy of the Constitution and laws 
of the United States might be established throughout 
all the States ; that we might not be destroyed as a people, 
among the family of nations; and that the effusion of 
blood might be stayed, and unity and fraternity restored 
throughout our borders, were answered. 

Within nine months the channel of peace was opened 
at Appomattox, on April 9, 1865, by the illustrious chief- 
tains Grant and Lee; and the example of their armies 
was soon followed by the other contending forces. "The 
raging w^ar that had divided the country had lulled, and 
private grief was hushed by the grandeur of the result." 

5 [65] 



WASHINGTON DURING WAR TIME 

The stupendous struggle from 1861 to 1865 involved, 
from first to last, Union and Confederate forces num- 
bering 3,700,000 and witnessed the wealth of the country 
scattered like sand, and the blood of the country lavished 
like water. Further contributions were not longer to be 
made to distorted features, ghastly ruins, and "the hidden 
anguish in the harvests of horror breathing from the 
silent ground." The blood of the land was to course 
anew — to mark the activities of life; and, as a reward, the 
now inseparably united North and South are harvesting 
the unbounded blessings of peace, Avith unsurpassed pros- 
j)erity and greatness. 

Let us have peace! 



[661 





"-^k^ 



Gen. Horatio O. Wrig-ht. 



Fort Stevens, Where Lincoln Was Under Fire. 

By AVILLIAM VAN ZANDT COX 

Author of the Defenses of Washi7igton 

HREE times during the Civil 
War Washington was in grave 
peril and three times it was 
saved to the Union. 

The first was at the beginning 
of hostilities when the militia of 
the District of Columbia came 
to the rescue of the small body 
of marines and artillery, before 
the arrival in the Capital of the 
troops from Pennsylvania, Mas- 
sachusetts, New York, and other Northern States. The 
second was immediately after the battle of Bull Run 
(July 21, 1861), wdien it could have been captured by 
i'the Confederates had they not been more demoralized 
by victory than the Federals by defeat. The third was 
in July, 1864, when General Early made his campaign 
against Washington. 

The important battle at Monocacy, Maryland, on 
July 9, 1864, was the first day's fight to save the Nation's 
Capital, and General Early's army was victorious. So 
unexpected and so rapid were the Confederate general's 
movements that he Avas in sight of the dome of the Capi- 
tol before his cleverly conceived plans were fully realized. 
When the roar of Early's guns was heard and the tele- 
graph announced that he had defeated Lew Wallace at 

[67] 



WASHINGTON DURING WAK TIME 

Monocacy Bridge, the heart of the Kortli quivered with 
emotion as it contemplated the defenselessness of Wash- 
ington, stripped of men and guns for the campaign 
against Eichmond. 

This daring campaign against Washington and its 
skillful execution caused a rude aAvakening in the North, 
impatiently Avaiting for Grant to take Richmond. Both 
Washington and Baltimore were in a state of panic, while 
gold went up to the highest point. The capture of Wash- 
ington meant diplomatic complications of a most serious 
nature, with foreign jDowers awaiting only for a plausible 
pretext for dismemberment. Never was a prize more 
tempting to the Confederates. Never was there a time 
when more was at stake for the Union. 

"Wallace defeated at Monocacy after a stubborn fight," 
were the words contained in the message received at the 
War Department, but that stubborn fight was as valuable 
as a victory for the Union, for a day's time had been 
gained, so necessary for the safety of tiie Capital. 

During those exciting days there was one calm man, 
and he was none other than President Lincoln. He was 
then living at the Soldiers' Home, a mile and a quarter 
from Fort Stevens, and in addition to his herculean 
duties he daily visited the camps, forts, and hospitals. 
He seemed devoid of fear and his chief concern was at 
that time the capture of Early's army. His telegram to 
Governor Swann of Maryland is characteristic: "Let us 
be vigilant but keep cool." 

General C. C. Augur was in command of the Depart- 
ment of Washington. General Alexander McD. McCook 
had charge of the northern line of troops and fortifica- 
tions. The latter Avas ordered to establish a camp on 
Piney Branch creek, but the news from the front was so 
disquieting that he i)roceeded to Fort Stevens, five miles 

[68] 



FORT STEVENS, WHERE LINCOLN WAS UNDER FIRE 

north of Pennsylvania Avenue on the Seventh Street 
pike, and took command of a line he had never before 
seen. 

Every man was utilized for defense. The hospitals 
were drawn on for convalescents, the Quartermaster's 
Department for employes, the National Guard of Ohio, 
the District of Columbia militia, the Veteran Heserves, 
and the few unassigned regular detachments and un- 
mounted cavalry, sailors, firemen, and citizens were in 
the trenches and on picket line. 

AVhen General Grant realized the gravity of the situa- 
tion, and that Hunter could render no assistance, he first 
thought of returning from Petersburg to Washington to 
take connnand in person. On reflection, however, he 
decided to send the Sixth Corps, commanded by General 
Horatio G. Wright. 

The Twenty-fifth New York Cavalry which left City 
Point, Virginia, on July 7, seems to have been the first 
regiment to reach Washington from the James and went 
into camp about midnight of July 10, near Fort Stevens. 
On the same day the First and Second Divisions of the 
Sixth Corps left City Point for Washington. A few 
hours later. General W. H. Emory, with a part of the 
Nineteenth Corps, just returned from New Orleans to 
join Grant, left Fortress Monroe for Washington with- 
out disembarking from their ocean transports. 

What a picture! Earl}^ with his fighting legions ad- 
vancing on the Capital from the North, while fleets bear- 
ing the veterans of the Sixth and Nineteenth Corps were 
on their way from the James River and the Gulf of 
Mexico to save the Capital they loved so well. North and 
South looked on with bated breath and wondered which, 
in this race of armies, would reach AVashington first. 

On the Tfiorning of July 11, General Early left his 

[69] 



WASlIlNGTOl^ btJkiNG War I'lME 

camp near Rockville, JMcCaiisland taking the George- 
town pike; the infantry preceded and flanked by cavahy 
taking the Seventh Street pike. Major Frye, of Lowell's 
cavalry, met the enemy's cavalry skirmishers a short dis- 
tance beyond the j)icket line near the old Stone Tavern 
before noon ancl forced them back on their reserves. He, 
in turn, was driven back by the enemy, who fired a few 
shots from a battery of light artillery. 

About 11 o'clock, the signal officer, at Fort Reno, 
observed clouds of dust and army wagons moving up the 
Seventh Street pike. About the same time a message 
from Captain Berry, Eighth Illinois Cavalry, said that 
the enemy with artillery, cavalry, and infantry was mov- 
ing in the direction of Silver Spring. General McCook 
ordered the picket line to contest tjie ground and to retire 
slowly on approach of the enemy until within range of 
the guns of Forts Stevens, Slocum, and DeRussy.* 

Shortly after noon, riding in advance with Rodes, 
whose division, consisting of Given's and Cox's North 
Carolinians, Crook's Georgians, and Battle's Alabamians, 
in the van. General Early came, as he says, in full vieAv 
of Fort Stevens, and found it feebly manned, as had been 
reported to him. Smith, of Imboden's Cavalry, accord- 
ing to Early, drove a small body of Union cavalry before 
him into the works. 

No time could be lost, and he ordered the tired and 
dusty veterans to move forward; but before his order 
could be executed, to his everlasting regret, he saw trained 
and disciplined troops move out of the works, deploy, and 
form a skirmish line. 

Undisma3^ed and undaunted, the tireless Early and his 
brave men continued to advance, but with greater caution 



*Winiam E. Leach, Co, K, One Hundred and Fiftieth Ohio, was 
the first man wounded on picket duty and died shortly afterwards. 
See War of the RebeUIon, Sec. 1. Vol. 37. p. 245. 



[70] 



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WASHINGTON DURING WAR TIME 

than before. It was too late ! The hopes and ambitions 
of only an hour ago could never be realized. Washington 
Avas saved to the Union ! The Sixth Corps had arrived ! 
Never was there a more opportune movement, never was 
there a more welcome arrival. Down the historic James, 
up the historic Potomac, came the Sixth Corps. Mr. 
Lincoln met them at the Seventh Street Wharf and well 
they cheered him ! With what alacrity both officers and 
men marched to reinforce the brave defenders on the 
firing line ! Dr. George Stevens, the historian of the 
Sixth Army Corps, says : 

We marched up Seventh Street, meeting on our way 
many old friends, and hearing people who crowded on the 
sidewalks, exclaiming, "It is the old Sixth Corps" — 
"These men are the men who took Mayre's Heights" — • 
"The danger is over now." Washington, an hour before, 
was in a panic; but as the people saw the veterans wear- 
ing the badge of the Greek cross marching through their 
streets, the excitement subsided and confidence prevailed. 

Thus we made our way to the north of the city, the 
sound of cannonading in our front stimulating and has- 
tening the steps of the men. 

Families with a fcAv of their choicest articles of house- 
hold furniture loaded into wagons, were hastening to the 
city, reporting that their houses were burned, or that they 
had made their escape, leaving the greater part of their 
goods to the mercy of the Rebel. General Frank Wheaton 
in his report says : 

While on the march to Fort Stevens, was passed by 
General Wright, and received his verbal instructions to 
mass near Cr3^stal Spring in the neighborhood of Fort 
Stevens, where we arrived at 4 o'clock in the afternoon.* 

At 5 p. M., the force outside of Fort Stevens, consisting 
of portions of the Veteran Reserve Corps, War Depart- 
ment clerks, and citizen volunteers, was driven in toward 



♦At 4 p. m., General Wrig-ht wired General Augur from Fort 
Stevensr Th« h*»ad of my column has nearly ranched the front. 



[72J 



FORT STEVENS, WHERE LINCOLN WAS UNDER FIRE 

the fort by a portion of the enemy's forces under Early. 
At the same time I was ordered to move 500 men of my 
brigade out to recover the line held in the afternoon. This 
was successfully accomplished before 7 o'clock by the 
Ninety-eighth Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteers, Col. J. 
F. Bailler; the One Hundred and Second Pennsylvania 
Veteran Volunteers, Major Thomas McLaughlin; and the 
One Hundred and Thirty-ninth Pennsylvania Volunteers, 
Captain James McGregor, which deployed as skirmishers 
and drove the enemy's advance back to their main lines. 
The position was strengthened at dark by the Ninety- 
third Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteers, Lieutenant- 
Colonel J. S. Long, and the Sixty-second New York Vet- 
eran Volunteers, Lieutenant-Colonel T. B. Hamilton, and 
extended from a point opposite the center of the line 
between Forts Stevens and Keno to the west and a point 
opposite Fort Slocum on the east, a distance of about 
two miles. Skirmishing continued through the night. 
In vain all the afternoon of July 11 Early tried to find 

a weak spot in the lines, but he was met everywhere by 
the fire of fort guns and musketry. The works he re- 
ported exceedingly strong, consisting of what appeared 
to be inclosed forts for heavy artillery, with a tier of 
lower works in front of each, pierced for an immense 
number of guns, the whole being connected by curtains, 
with ditches in front and strengthened by palisades and 
abattis. The timber had been felled within cannon range 
all around and left on the ground, making a formidable 
obstacle, and every possible approach was raked by artil- 
lery. On the right was Kock Creek, running through a 
deep ravine, which had been rendered impassable by the 
felling of timber on each side, and beyond were the works 
on the Georgetown pike, which had been reported to be 
the strongest of all. On the left as far as the eye could 
reach the works appeared to be of the same impregnable 
charnrtpr. 

[731 



WASHINGTON DURING WAR TIME 

Early then held a consultation with his generals, 
Breckinridge, Rodes, Eamseiir, and Gordon, pointing out 
the necessity of action before the fords and mountain 
i^asses were closed against them, and in concluding, he 
announced his purpose of making an assault at daylight. 
When on examining the works on the morning of July 
12, General Early saw the parapets lined with troops,* 
he says that he then determined to abandon the idea of 
capturing Washington. 

A distinguished writer who was at Brightwood during 
the battle says: 

July 12 came bright and glorious. The First Brigade 
of our Second Division and our sharpshooters were on 
the picket in front of Fort Stevens, from the parapet of 
which could be seen the lines of Rebel skirmishers, from 
whose rifles the white puffs of smoke rose as they dis- 
charged their pieces at our pickets. The valley beyond 
presented a scene of surpassing loveliness, with the rich 
green meadows, its fields of waving corn, its orchards 
and its groves. 

The principal force of the enemy seemed to be in front 
of Fort Stevens; there it was determined to give them 
battle. 

About 5 o'clock in the afternoon General Wri^rht 
ordered General Wheaton to drive back the Confederate 
skirmish line and occupy the wooded points near the road, 
which, being so near our intrenchments, gave the enemy 
advantage of position; thereupon. Colonel Bidwell was 
instructed to have the Third Brigade move outside of the 
fort and form, under cover of a ravine and woods (south- 
east of Battle Ground Cemetery) in two lines directly in 
the rear of the First Brigade, on the skirmish line. 
Colonel Bidwell was also directed to select three of his 
best regiments to assist in the assault, the remaining 



*It is said that General Meigs instructed his quartermaster's 
soldiers to make themselves as conspicuous as possible on th» 
parapet!. 



[•1] 



>- 



FORT ST^VfcNS, WttEtiE Llls^COLi^ WAS UNDEti FlSE 

portion of the brigade to be held to support the general 
movement. 

According to General AVheaton: The Seventh Maine, 
the Forty-third New York, and Forty-ninth New York 
were skillfully placed in position near the skirmish line 
under the direction of Colonel Bidwell without the enemy 
discovering the movement. 

A preconcerted signal was made by a staff officer, from 
Fort Stevens, when these regiments were in position, at 
which time the batteries from Forts Stevens and Slocum 
opened fire upon certain points, strongly held by the 
enemy. The assaulting regiments then dashed forward, 
surprising and hotly engaging the enemy, who was found 
to be much stronger than supposed. It became necessary 
to deploy immediately the three remaining regiments — 
the Seventy-seventh New York, the Twenty-second New 
York, and the Sixty-first Pennsjdvania Volunteers — Bid- 
well's Brigade, on the right of those he had already in 
the action, and the picket reserve of 150 men from the 
One Hundred and Second Pennsylvania Volunteers, and 
a detachment of 80 men from the Vermont Brigade to 
support the skirmish line immediately on the right and 
left of the pike. The enem}- 's stubborn resistance showed 
that a farther advance than already made Avould require 
more troops, and two regiments were sent for. Before 
their arriA^al, however, (the Thirty-seventh Massachusetts 
Volunteers and Second Rhode Island), an aide-de-camp 
from General Wright directed me not to attempt more 
than holding the position gained, as the object of the 
attack had been accomplished and the important points 
captured and held. 

This whole attack was as gallant as it was successful, 
and the troops never evinced more energy or determina- 
tion. The losses were very severe, the brave Colonel 
Bidwell losing many of his most valuable regimental 
commanders. The last shot was fired about 10 o'clock 
and the remainder of the night was occupied in strength- 
ening the position, burying the dead, caring for the 
wounded, and relieving the skirmish line which had been 
two days in front constantly under fire — by troops of the 
Second Vermont Brigade. 

[75] 



WASHINGTON DURING WAR TIME 

Dr. Stevens describes the attack in these words: 

The heavy ordnance in the fort sent volley after volley 
of thirty-two pound shells howling over the heads of our 
men into the midst of the Ilebels, and through the [Car- 
berry] house where so many of them had found shelter, 
and then at the command of "Sedgwick's Man of Iron," 
the brave fellows started eagerly forward. They reached 
and passed the skirmishers, and the Avhite puffs of smoke 
and the sharp cracks of their rifles became more and more 




Confederate Assault on the Works Near Washington, July 12, 1864. 



frequent; first the rattle of an active skirmish and then 
the continuous roar of 'a musketry battle. 

In magnificent order and with light steps they ran 
forward up the ascent, through the orchard, through the 
little grove on the right, over the fence rail, up to the 
road making straight for the objective point, the frame 
house 'Carbprry' in front. The Rebels at first stood their 

[T6] 



FORT STEATJNS, WHERE LINCOLN WAS UNDER FIRE 

ground, then gave way before the impetuous charge, and 
though forced to seek safety in flight, turned and poured 
their volleys into the ranks of the pursuers. Lieutenant- 
Colonel Johnson, commanding the Fortj^-ninth NeAV 
York, a brave man, who had never shrunk from danger, 
and who had shared all the various fortunes of the 
Brigade since its organization, fell mortally wounded. 
Colonel Vischer of the Forty-third New York, who had 
but lately succeeded the beloved Wilson, was killed. 
Major tlames P. Jones, commanding the Seventh Maine, 
was also among the slain; and Major Crosby, command- 
ing the Sixty -first Pennsylvania, who had just recovered 
from a bad wound which he had received in the Wilder- 
ness, was taken to the hospital, where the surgeon removed 
his left arm from the shoulder. Colonel W. B. French, 
of the Seventy-seventh New York, was injured. The 
commanding officer of every regiment in the Brigade was 
either killed or Avounded. 

The fight had lasted but a few minutes, when the 
stream of bleeding, mangled ones began to come to the 
rear. Men leaning upon the shoulders of comrades, or 
borne painfully on stretchers, the pallor of their counte- 
nances rendered more ghastly by the thick dust which 
settled upon them, were brought into the hospitals by 
scores, where the medical officers, ever active in adminis- 
tering relief to their companions, were hard at work 
binding up wounds, administering stimulants, coffee, and 
food, or resorting to the hard necessity of amputation. 

At the summit of the ascent, the Confederates were 
strengthened by their second line of battle, and here they 
made a stout resistance; but even this position they were 
forced to abandon in haste; and as darkness closed in 
upon the scene our men were left as victors in possession 
of the ground, lately occupied by the Rebels, having 
driven their adversaries more than a mile. 

The Vermont Bri2:ade now came to the relief of the 
boys who had so gallantly won the field, and the Third 
Brigade returned at midnight to the bivouac it had left 
in the morning. But not all returned. Many of those 
brave men who went with such alacrity into the battle 
had fallen to rise no more, in the orchard, in the road, 

[77] 



WASHINGTON DURING WAR TIME 

about the frame house, and upon the summit where the 
Rebels had made so determined a resistance, their forms 
were stretched upon the green sward and upon the dusty 
road, stiff and cokl. Many more had come to the hospital 
severely injured, maimed for life, or mortally wounded. 

The little brigade, numbering only a thousand men 
when it went into action, had lost two hundred and fifty 
of its number. We gathered our dead comrades from the 
field where they had fallen and gave them the rude burial 
of the soldier on the common near Fort Stevens. No 
officer of state, no lady of wealth, no citizen of Washing- 
ton was there, but we laid them in their graves within 
sight of the Capitol, without coffins, with only their 
gory garments and their blankets around them. With 
the rude tenderness of soldiers, we covered them in the 
earth, and marked their names with our pencils on the 
little headboards of pine, and turned sa:lly away to other 
scenes. 

On an eminence near the Confederate advance was 
John C. Breckinridge, the candidate receiving the votes 
of the seceding States for President, expecting to enter 
the Capital with the Army of Northern Virginia. 

On the parapet of Fort Stevens, by the side of General 
Wright, amid the whizzing bullets, stood the successful 
candidate in that great political struggle, Abraham Lin- 
coln, watching with that "grave and pensive counte- 
nance," the progress of the battle. 

A few years ago, in company with the old commander 
of the Sixth Corps, I stood upon that same parapet. 
After contemplating the surroundings General Wright 
said : 

Here on the top of this parapet between this old em- 
brasure and that, is the place where President Lincoln 
stood witnessing the fight; there, by his side, a surgeon 
was wounded by a minie ball. 

J entreated the President not to expose his life to the 



FORT STEVENS, WHERE LINCOLN WAS UNDER FIRE 

bullets of the enemy; but he seemed oblivious to his sur- 
roundings; finally, when I found that my entreaties 
failed to make any impression on him, I said, "Mr. Presi- 
dent, I know you are commander of the armies of the 
United States, but I am in command here, and as you are 
not safe where you are standing, I order you to come 
down." Mr. Lincoln looked at me and smiled, and then, 
more in consideration of my earnestness than from inclin- 
ation, stepped down and took position behind the parapet. 
Even then he would persist in standing up and exposing 
his tall form. 

That old parapet, identified by General Horatio G. 
Wright, stands today, and for history's sake should be 
preserved in memory of Lincoln as a tribute to the brav- 
ery of the American soldier — a united North and South. 



[79] 



Death of President Lincoln.' 



By THOMAS McCURDY VINCENT 

Brigadier General^ hy hrevet^ U. S. Army 

HE sad memories of the 
night of April 14 and 15, 
1865, have prevented me 
from cnterhig this biiild- 
ing,t until this evening. 
Now, in the presence of 
this honorable Associa- 
tion I find the scene 
greatly changed. The 
dreadful gloom has disap- 
peared, for may it not be 
said, that this commemor- 
ative meeting is more in 
connection with the life of 
a great man than the occasion of his death. He who had 
consummated a new birth of freedom for the Nation, was 
himself born to a new life. A melodious birth song is 
better suited than a death song in connection with this 
anniversary of the night when a great Luminary of 
History, with its eternal effulgence, was transferred to a 
superior realm. 

I had ojiportunities to study Abraham Lincoln. He 
frequently visited my office, in the old War Department 




General T. M. Vincent. 



*Froni an address by General Vincent before the Memorial 
Association of the District of Columbia delivered Saturday, April 
14, 1894, in commemoration of President Lincoln's death in the 
house in which he died, 516 Tenth Street, N. W. 

tThe objects and officers of this Association are given on page 93. 



[80] . 



THE DEATH OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN 

building, in order to gain information relative to the 
armies of the Union. He would appear there, unat- 
tended, at an hour least subject to interruption, and seat- 
ing himself, secure the information he desired. Then, 
if all things promised well, in a cheerful manner he would 
converse brightly. On these occasions I found his great 
kind heart, marked by sad earnestness, going out to all 
the armies, through his words of sympathy for the troops 
during their battles and marches — not alone to the armies 
as a whole, but to individuals as well. 

I now hold in my hand an illustration of his tender 
and sympathetic feelings in individual cases. 

A wayward son, through his dismissal from the army, 
had brought deep grief to his father who appealed for 
clemency. The case was fully considered with an adverse 
result, when the father presented himself to the Presi- 
dent in the hope of a reversal of the decision. The 
President could not take favorable action, nor had he the 
heart to turn the father away by a final negative reply. 
Accordingly he sent me the following note: 

I have promised the bearer * * * an interview with 
Major Vincent. Will Major Vincent please see and hear 
him. 

May 28, 1863. A. Lincoln. 

I explained the case fully to the father, who then, in 
substance said: "I noAv know the attentive consideration 
of Mr. Lincoln in the midst of all his heavy cares. I have 
his kind and considerate final refusal through these 
papers. He could not have done otherwise; may God 
bless him." 

But above his interest in the armies and his knowledge 
of them, his inspiration, as Commander-in-Chief, was 
present on every field, to organize victory. Through his 

• [81] 



WASHINGTON DURING WAR TIME 

efforts battles were made successful, and distinction was 
made to crown generals and others. His labors, by day 
and by night, gave luster to the vast armies, which from 
first to last numbered 2,700,000 men, entrusted to his 
connnand b}^ his devoted countrymen. Subsequent to 
February, 18G4, an Act of Congress made his will the 
authority for raising troops, a delicate and mighty power, 
under which the volunteer forces Avere soon increased to 
1,034,000, the largest number in service at any one time. 
During his four years of supreme command, the earth 
shook with the tramp of armies; events crowded rapidly; 
lurid flame of battle arose, — a period, as has been truly 
said, "of subversion and revolution, when each hour 
brought a new responsibility" to the great Commander- 
in-Chief. 

My interviews with him impressed me Avith the sublime 
simplicity of his character, and the marked dignity of a 
noble manhood. Often have I associated with him the 
words: "Whose life was Avork, whose language rife, Avith 
rugged maxims heAvn from life; Avho never spoke against 
a foe." 

His bovhood's ascent in life beo'an in the humble 
cabin, as he "climbed at night to his bod of leaA^es in 
the loft, by a ladder of Avooden pegs driven into the 
logs." In later years his ascent Avas ouAvard and upAvard, 
by the ladder of fame, gaining at each round, the esteem 
and honor of his countrvmen. 

It could not have been otherAvise, Avhen Ave consider his 
eminent endoAvment Avith the gifts and virtues of charity, 
humility, meekness, patience, diligence, Avisdom, pru- 
dence, justice, and fortitude. 

He added to his studies amid the rugged wilds of 
nature. "The Declaration of Independence was his com- 
pendium of political wisdom, the life of Washington his 

[82] 



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WASHINGTON DURING WAR TIME 

constant study." And thus endowed, and schooled, "Plis 
scepter was as the bow of Ulysses, which could not be 
drawn by a weaker hand. He stood alone like a beacon 
upon a Avaste, or a rock in the broad ocean." 

He who said, in old Independence Hall, that he had 
' never had '*a feeling, politically, that did not spring 
from sentiments embodied in the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, which gave liberty no.t alone to the people of 
this countrv. but to the world in all future time " and, 
that if the country could not be saved without giving up 
that principle, "he would rather be assassinated on the 
spot than surrender it;" he who traveled in the dead of 
night prior to his inauguration, to escape assassination, 
w^s cut down by a demoniac. 

But while the assassin's hand removed the mortal por- 
tion of Lincoln from this life, it could not and did not 
touch the beacon light, which has continued its eternal 
radiation as a guide for all peoples, in all ages. 

On April 14, 1865, I had returned from the War 
Department to my house at about ten o'clock at night and 
very soon thereafter was informed by a cousin of Mrs. 
Lincoln — Dr. Lyman Beecher Todd, of Lexington, Ky., 
— that the President had been assassinated, and the mem- 
bers of his cabinet attacked. I at once hurried to the 
house of the Secretary of War, and there found the 
family greatly alarmed and excited; but the Secretarj;, 
just prior to my arrival, had started for Mr. Seward's 
residence. I followed, and there learned that he had 
gone to the scene of the tragedy on Tenth street; on 
reaching the locality I found him in this house to which 
the President had been removed from Ford's Theatre. 
I remained here near the Secretary, and at his request, 
during the night. He was greatly saddened and referred 
to the change of scene from that of the cabinet meeting, 

[84] 



THE DEATH OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN 

a few hours before, at which General Grant was present, 
when the state of the country and the prospect of a 
speedy peace were discussed. He stated that the President 
during the meeting was hopeful and very cheerful, and 
had spoken kindly of General Lee and other officers of 
the Confederacy. Particularly had his kindly feelings 
gone out to the enlisted men of the Confederacy, and 
during the entire session of the cabinet his manner and 
words manifested emphatically a desire to restore a satis- 
factory peace to the South, through all due regard for 
her vanquished citizens. Yet, whilst he was buoyant, on 
that Good Friday, in his advocacy of "Peace on earth to 
men of good will," he seemed depressed at times, and 
had referred to his dream of the previous night, which 
had recurred several times on the eve of some important 
event — "a vague sense of floating — floating away, on some 
vast and indistinct expanse, toward an unknown shore." 

These are his immortal words near the end of the con- 
flict : "Let us finish the work we are in, to bind up the 
Nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne 
the battle, and for his widow and orphans; to do all^ 
which may achieve and cherish, a just and lasting peace, 
among ourselves and with all nations." So beautiful his 
marvelously balanced humanity, so broad his firmly based 
charity. 

About 1 :30 o'clock in the morning it was fully appar- 
ent that the President was then dying from his mortal 
wound, and that it was not probable that he would live 
through the night. The Secretary then informed me that 
it would be necessary to stand prepared to communicate 
the President's death to the Vice-President, and, soon 
thereafter, handed me the rough notes of the formal 
notification from which I wrote out a fair copy, and held 
it until after the President's death; which was officially 

[85] 



Washington during war time 

announced at 7:55 on the morning of April 15, by a 
telegram from the Secretary to Major General Dix, as 
follows : 

Abraham Lincoln died this morning at twenty-two 
minutes after 7 o'clock. 

The notification to the Vice-President was duly signed 
and communicated, as recited in a subsequent telegram, 
as follows: 

Official notice of tlie death of the late President, 
Abraham Lincoln, was given by the Heads of Depart- 
ments this morning to Andrew Johnson, Vice-President, 
upon whom the Constitution devolved the office of Presi- 
dent. Mr. Johnson, upon receiving this notice, appeared 
before the Honorable Salmon P. Chase, Chief Justice of 
the United States, and assumed its duties and functions. 

The inanimate objects in this building cause persons to 
rise vividly before me. 

That bed, whereon the illustrious one breathed his last ; 
that sofa, which supjDorted the dazed and grief-stricken 
widow; that table, at which the Chief Justice of the 
Supreme Court of the District took evidence as to the 
assassin's work, and another, whereon the War ^linister 
penned dispatches to convey to the nation information 
respecting the condition of the dying President ; and that 
table, on which was prepared the notification to the Vice- 
President that the man *'who had clung fast to the hand 
of the people and moved calmly through the gloom of 
war and strife" had passed awaj^ 

Anguish sat on every countenance, and under its weight 

■^the footfalls of historic men, in passing through these 

rooms, were muffled, and all voices lowered to whispers. 

Marked silence was without this building, although vast, 

densely congregated crowds, with suffering hearts, filled 

[86] 



THE DEATH OF PRESIDENT LINCOLK 

the streets centering here. Thus was evidenced the pro- 
found veneration, and sadness of feeling, which went out 
to the departing President. 

The death-bed scenes were harrowing in the extreme. 
Surrounding and near the iUustrious one, who was in- 
sensible from the first, in consequence of his mortal wound, 
from which his life's blood was oozing, were the sobbing, 
grief-stricken wife, accompanied by her young son; the 
fervent minister; the watchful surgeon; all the members 
of the cabinet save Mr. Seward, and others in civil and 
military circles. As the sure approach of death was 
noticed, the deep sad gloom increased, and, at the solemn 
moment, it seemed that it had extended to Heaven to 
be from there promulgated back to Earth, through the 
agency of deep sable clouds. The attendant drops of rain 
seemed to have been sent to mingle, sorrowfully, with the 
tears of the Nation. 

And, Avhen the skill of surgeons and all other earthly 
means had been exhausted, and the never-failing claim 
of death had been asserted, all was hushed in God's great 
presence, while to Him was offered the sympathetic min- 
ister's final prayer. ''The automatic moaning Avhich had 
continued during the night had ceased; a look of un- 
speakable peace rested upon the dead President's worn 
features." 

"Tenderly heroic the life had been all through;'' and 
he who had loved his country so Avell — he "whose deeds 
cast a luster around his head, to testify the greatness that 
has embodied itself in his name*' — Avas, at the final in- 
stant, sealed for preservation, in that repository of abun- 
dance — the love of his countrymen. 

Soon after 8 o'clock the devoted War Minister had 
ordered all to be arranged for the removal of the body to 
the Executive Mansion, and then left me as his represen- 

[87] 



WASHINGTON DTJRING WAR TIME 

tative until after the transfer should take place. It was 
about this time that, after pressing and smoothing the 
eyes of the dead President, I placed coins on them to 
close them for a last long slumber. 

The Congress of the United States, with most affection- 
ate form and state, connnemorated Lincoln's birth on its 
anniversary day, February 12, 18GG. In closing my re- 
marks, I may well quote George Bancroft's fitting words 
on that occasion : 

Where in the history of nations had a chief magistrate 
possessed more sources of consolation and joy than Lin- 
coln ? His countrymen had shoAvn their love by choosing 
him to a second term of service. The raging war that 
had divided the country had lulled and private grief was 
hushed by the grandeur of the result. The nation had 
its new birth of freedom, soon to be secured forever by an 
amendment to tlie Constitution. His persistent gentleness 
had conquered for him a kindlier feeling on the part of 
the South. His scoffers among the grandees of Europe 
began to do him honor. The laboring classes everywhere 
saw in his advancement their own. All j^eoples sent him 
their benedictions. And at this moment of the height 
of fame, to Avhich his humility and modesty added 
charms, he fell by the hand of an assassin; and the only 
triumph awarded him was the march to the grave. * * * 

Not in vain has Lincoln lived, for he has helped to 
make this Republic an example of Justice, with no caste 
but the caste of humanity. * * * The heroes who led our 
armies and ships into battle and fell in the service, * * * 
did not die in vain; they and the myriads of nameless 
martyrs, and he, the chief martyr, gave up their lives 
willingly "that government of the people, by the peoi^le, 
and for the people, shall not perish from the earth." 

Monuments of marble and granite have been erected to 
his memory; "but he needs no chiseled stone, no storied 
urn, no marble bust, to perpetuate his fame." 

[88] 



THE DEATH OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN 

THE MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION OF THE DISTRICT OF 

COLUMBIA. 

Incorporated Under the Laws of the District, March 18, 1892. 

This Association has been organized for the threefold purpose — 

1. Of preserving the most noteworthy houses at the Capital that 
have been made historic by the residence of the nation's greatest 
men. 

2. Of suitably marking, by tablets or otherwise, the houses and 
places throughout the city of chief interest to our own residents 
and to the multitudes of Americans and foreigners who annuallly 
visit the Capital. 

3. Of thus cultivating that historic spirit and that reverence for 
the memories of the founders and leaders of the Republic upon 
which an intelligent and abiding patriotism so largely depends. 

Officers of the Association. 

Melville W. Fuller, President. Myron M. Parker, Secretary. 
Teunis S. Hamlin, Vice-President. James E. Fitch, Treasurer. 

Members of the Association, 

Appointed by the President of the United States, the President of 

the Senate, and the Speaker of the House. 

Melville W. Fuller. A. R. Spofford. 

John M. Schofield. John Hay. 

John W. Foster. J. W^Douglass. 

B. H. Warder. Myron M. Parker. 

S. P. Langley. Gardiner G. Hubbard. 

A. B. Hagner. , W. D. Davidge, 

J. C. Bancroft Davis. . S. R. Franklin. 

Walter S. Cox. Teunis S. Hamlin. 

S. H. Kauffmann. Charles C. Glover. 

And we especially wish to purchase the house on Tenth Street 
in which President Lincoln died. It is the only building at the 
Capital distinctly associated with him. We wish to restore it to 
the condition in which it then was, both externally and internally; 
to gather in it such mementoes of Mr. Lincoln as can be procured, 
and to make it a perpetual shrine of patriotic pilgrimage for the 
millions that venerate his memory. 

The title to this and to any other historic houses or places 
preserved by the labors of the Association will, by our charter, 
vest in the United States, and remain under the control and man- 
agement of the Association at the pleasure of the Congress. 

Washington, D. C, 

1st May, 1893. 



[89] 



WASHINGTON DURING WAR TIME 

In accordance with an Act of Congress passed on June 11, 1896, 
there was appropriated for the "purchase of the house on Tenth 
Street, Northwest, between E and F streets, in the City of Wash- 
ington where Abraham Lincoln died, thirty thousand dollars, or 
so much thereof as may be necessary; for repairs of said building, 
after purchase, one thousand dollars; in all, thirty-one thousand 
dollars." In consequence of this Act, this historical residence 
became the property of the United States. In this house there 
are now more than two hundred portraits of Lincoln, and thou- 
sands of portraits and pictures illustrating events pertaining to 
his career. 

On March 3, 1899, there was a further appropriation made "for 
repairing the house in which Abraham Lincoln died, being the 
property of the United States, three thousand eight hundred and 
thirty-three dollars and fifty cents, the same to be expended under 
the direction of the Chief of Engineers." 




View of the House in Which Lincoln Died. 



[90] 



The Grand Review. 




General H. W. Halleck. 



By JOHN McELKOY 

Seiiioi" Vice Comniander^ Grand Army of the RepuhliG 

HIS strifeful old world has 
seen many imposing military 
pageants since first the sword 
began to devour, by way of 
saying the last word in dis- 
putes. But never, not even 

In the g-lory that was Greece, 
And the grandeur that was Rome, 

not even when Napoleon 
marched his eagle-bearing le- 
gions back to Paris from the 
wreck of empires and the de- 
struction of dynasties, did 
the hours keep pace with the march of so mighty a tor- 
rent of warlike power as swept in unbroken tide along 
Pennsylvania Avenue for two wide-arching May days 
of 1865. 

In numbers it was bewildering; in history, startling; 
in character, overwhelming. 

Its banners showed the scars of two thousand battle- 
fields, many of them the bloodiest in history, and were 
consecrated by the lives of half a million young men who 
had fallen around them since first unfurled. A mightier 
army than Napoleon led to the mastery of Europe had 
perished in carrying forward those banners to victory. 
Each one of the myriads of bronzed young veterans who 
strode up the avenue in the pride of trained and perfected 

[91] 



WASHINGTON DURING WAR TIME 

soldiership, represented an average of nearly half a score 
of youthful companions who had started in with him, but 
who were now sleeping in shallow graves, lingering on 
beds of pain, or scattering back to their homes as wreck- 
age drifting from the vortex of the "far flung battle line." 

Four vears of incessant battlinof with a foe of finest 
mettle had also burned out all the dross and the weak- 
lings, and moulded and tempered that marching host 
into comparatively the finest military weapon ever forged 
to execute a nation's will. 

It was led by men whose names will forever shine in 
our history as types of the highest soldiershij), joined to 
the purest patriotism. 

The first day the Army of the Potomac, in a dense 
column which filled the wide avenue from curb to curb, 
marched b}^ from early morn until late at night. No bet- 
ter demonstration of the marvelous efficiency which had 
been attained in its four years' schooling in war can be 
given than that 80,000 men should be able to pass in 
perfect military order by a given point in a single day. 
This would be impossible in the best drilled legions of 
Europe to-day. And with that army, what recent and 
vivid memories marched? Of the months of bloody 
welter on the Peninsula. Of the battle surges over the 
oft-reddened plains of Manassas. Of that awful Sep- 
tember day, on the banks of the Antietam, which closed 
with 12,000 boys in blue lying dead or wouned. Of that 
still more bitter December day at Fredericksburg, when 
American valor reached its supreme exaltation, and 
13,000 fell in an assault fore-doomed as hopeless. Of 
that wasted opportunity at Chancellorsville, which cost 
16,000 men and the sanguine hopes of the close of the 
war. Of the momentous three days at Gettysburg, 
which finally turned back the tide of audacious 

[92] 



WASHINGTON DURING WAR TIME 

rebellion, at the price of 5,000 Union dead, and 
12,000 wounded. Of those thirty days of mortal wrest- 
ling between the Union and Confederate armies from 
the Rapidan to the James, Avhich cost the Union army 
45,000 men, and filled every household in the South with 
mourning. Of the months of anxious, persistent, inflexi- 
ble siege of Petersburg. Of that most magnificently 
thrilling of all man-hunts in history, the blood-hound 
rush of Grant's whole army after Lee's, for a hundred 
miles, over Virginia's brakes and bournes until the end 
came at Appomattox. 

For four long years the people had been walking daily 
with the grand, grim, unconquerable Army of the Poto- 
mac through the Valley of the Shadow^ of Death, wath 
only infrequent ascents to the mountain peaks of Victory, 
but now it was fresh from the complete overthrow of its 
mighty antagonist. These were the men who had been 
through all this, the survivors of the host Avhich had 
accomplished it all, bearing the flags around Avhich they 
had unfalteringly gathered, no matter how disasters 
thickened. 

At the head of this Mississippi of warlike force rode its 
Commander, George Gordon Meade — tall, grim, specta- 
cled, his broad shoulders bent as if by the weight of the 
burden he had carried from Gettysburg to Appomattox. 

Sheridan, the whirlwind of battle, was missing from 
the glorious Cavalry Corps, which he had wakened to its 
strength, and fashioned in the forge of war into the 
mightiest mounted force that ever drew saber. He had 
been rushed off to the Eio Grande, to throttle an exotic 
Empire planted in Mexico by Napoleon III, who counted 
us of too little worth. Sheridan was well-spared, however, 
for awhile later the imported Emperor was taken out and 
shot. 

' . . > ' . [94] ' . . ' 



THE GRAND REVIEW 

The Cavalry was led by such incomparable lieutenants 
as the theatric, dashing George A. Custer, and the quiet, 
gray-eyed George A. Crook. 

The Second Corps, each man in its perfectly aligned 
ranks prouder of his clover leaf badge than of a peerage 
in the United Kingdom, was led by Andrew A. Hum- 
phrey's, an ideal American soldier and corps commander. 

Tlie Fifth Corps, Avhose Maltese Cross had badged the 
dead in the forefront of every line of battle of the Army 
of tlie Potomac, was led by tall, slender, knightly, 
"Charley" Griffin, who had four years before entered 
the Corps as an enthusiastic young battery captain, and 
was now wearing the doable stars of a major general, 
well earned in more than a score of hard-fought battles. 

Those Avho on breast or cap wore a Greek Cross as a 
proud armorial bearing were the men who had followed 
the leonine John Sedgwick until his character had become 
theirs. They were led by tall, precise, formal Horatio 
G. AVrio'ht, an Eno-ineer Officer all throuiih. But lie could 
drop his theorems and triangulations with remarkable 
quickness when the bugle called, and hurl the Sixth Corps 
like an avalanche to break the backbone of the Confeder- 
acy at Petersburg, or smash the heads of Lee's columns 
at Sailor's Creek. 

The Ninth Corps — "Burnside's Geography Class" — 
which had carried its cannon and anchor badge from 
Poanoke Island to the Antietam, and then to Vicksburg 
and East Tennessee, to return to the Army of the Poto- 
mac for the Wilderness and the siege of Petersburg, was 
led by another Engineer Officer, John G. Parke, with the 
memor}^ of the gallant work of the Corps at Fori Stead- 
man only a few weeks old. 

The finest array of light artillery then in the world 
came by under command of tall, swarthy Henry J. Hunt, 

[95] 



WASHINGTON DURING WAR TIME 

a devout believer that Providence was on the side that 
had the most cannon and worked them to the best advan- 
tage. 

Many of the loved and trusted leaders now belonged to 
history. The brilliant Kearny and the steadfast Stevens 
had fallen at Chantilly, in sight of the Capitol they were 
defending. Reno had died at South Mountain as his 
Corps had reached the crest it was assaulting. Mans- 
field and Richardson passed into the Beyond at Antietam. 
Reynolds only saw the beginning of the battle he opened 
at Gettysburg. Grand old John SedgAvick had fallen 
beneath a sharpshooter's bullet at Spottsylvania, and that 
superb example of genuine American aristocracy, James 
S. Wadsworth, had received the last of his wounds in 
the Wilderness. 

The next day came another host mighty as the first, 
vying with it in the greatness of its history and the 
magnitude of its achievements— strangely like it in many 
things, strangely unlike in others. 

It was Sherman's army marching into the Capital from 
the conquest of half a continent, ending on the banks 
of the Potomac a march begun four years before, two 
thousand miles away on the banks of the Ohio. 

They were all Western men. The State builders of the 
great country beyond the Alleghanies. Their battle flags 
bore the inscriptions : "Belmont," "Donelson," "Shiloh," 
"Corinth," "Perryville," "Stone River," "Vicksburg," 
"Chickamauga," "Mission Ridge," "Atlanta," "Savan- 
nah," "Carolinas," "Bentonville," and a thousand minor 
battles, each of which had thrilled the people's hearts to 
the core. 

They were restless, aggressive men ; tiger-like in attack, 
and wild boars on the defense, who had hunted down 
and fought their enemies in every State in the so-called 

[96] 



THE GRAND REVIEW 

Southern Confederacy. No mountain-top was too rugged, 
no sv, ampy fastness too impenetrable to shelter any man 
who drew a sword or raised a flag in hostility to the Gov- 
ernment. While the Army of the Potomac was chained 
to Washington, and fought all its battles within a few 
score miles of the Capital, they marched and fought over 
territory exceeding that of the battling grounds of all 
Europe. They had cut the Confederacy twice in tAvain, 
and then rove out broad swaths throuo-h the hearts of the 
seceding States. 

Their appearance showed they were wider rangers, 
freer lances than the Army of the Potomac. The men of 
the latter approached more nearly the Eegular Army 
model of dress, marching, and manoeuAa-es. The Western 
Army Avas rather careless as to dress and equipments, only 
caring to have enough to shoAV that they were Union 
soldiers. Nor did they bother much about proper cad- 
ence, and absolute perfection of alignment, but moved 
Avith the long, swinging stride which had carried them 
with marA^elous swiftness over eleven States. 

At their head rode the General-in-Chief, William 
Tecumseh Sherman — Avith the laurels of Atlanta, I he 
March to the Sea, Through the Carolinas, and the Sur- 
render of Johnston, still recent and fresh. Tall and sin- 
eAvy, with rugged face and gleaming eyes, he looked the 
ideal leader of battle and conquest. By his side, with 
armless sleeA'e, rode one of his principal lieutenants — Oli- 
A^r O. TIoAvard, the Christian soldier, and the Com- 
mander of the Army of the Tennessee from Atlanta to 
Washington. 

There now rode at the head of the Army of the Ten- 
nessee John A. Logan, the greatest volunteer general of 
the War, whose sword had won him that eminence from 
the starting point of a colonel of a regiment, 

[97] 



WASHINGTON DURING WAR TIME 

The Fifteenth Corps, Avhich had been commanded by 
Sherman in the Viciisburg campaign, and afterward 
by Logan in the Atlanta campaign, and through the 
Carolinas, was led by William B. Hazen, the hero of 
Fort McAllister. 

The Seventeenth, McPlierson's old Corps, was com- 
manded by Frank P. Blair, the soldier-politician, who, 
with Nathaniel Lyon, had saved Missouri to the Union. 

The Army of Georgia was commanded by the quiet, 
scholarly Henry W. Slocum, Avhose face reminded one 
of Dante's. 

The Twentieth Corps was commanded by "Fighting 
Joe Mower," who had entered the army in 1847 as a 
private in the engineers, and had been made a major-gen- 
eral for the i^assage of the Salkehatchie. 

The Fourteenth Army Corps, the Corps which "Pap" 
Thomas had fashioned and made "the Rock of Chicka- 
mauga" was commanded by dark-faced, sour-looking 
Jefferson C. Davis, every inch a soldier, who had given 
the best taste of his quality at Pea Ridge, when, having 
fought a successful fight through, at great loss, on one 
part of the line, had led his brigade at once to another 
part and helped Avin the battle there. 

The triumphant troops missed on the reviewing stand 
the face of all others they had most longed to see, that 
of the great-hearted, kindly Lincoln, who had fallen 
beneath the assassin's bullet, a few weeks before. 

His place was taken by heavy-jowled, red-faced John- 
son. At his side stood the great organizer of victor}^, the 
iron-Avilled Stanton, Secretaiy of War. 

Most interesting of all in that group was the ruddy 
bearded, stoop-shouldered, quiet man Avith three stars in 
his straps, who had commanded all the armies of the 
United States in the last decisive year of the war. A 

[98] 



THE GRAND REVIEW 

tanner's clerk when the war began; a colonel in his 
first campaign, who won every promotion by success upon 
the field of battle; who was constantly called to. "come 
up higher," because he had done so well below ; who had 
never fought but to win ; and never organized but to suc- 
ceed. The end of the war saw him the sole commander 
of a million battle-trained veterans, the mightiest host 
in every way that the world had ever seen subject to one 
man's will, and there was but one voice as to the eminent 
fitness for that pinnacle of unprecedented greatness of 
Lieutenant General Ulysses Grant. 



/ 




■ c 



The National Armory, Now the U. S. Fish Comrnissioq. 



[993 




The Military Power of the United States as 
Shown During the War of the Rebellion. 

By THOMAS McCUEDY VINCENT 

Brigadier General^ hy brevet^ U, S. Army 

N April, 18G1, the Government of 
the United States was, for the 
purpose of war, paral^^zed. It 
had not, practically, an army to 
maintain its authority, and was 
far from being able to attack the 
"accessible quarter" of an in- 
ternal enemy, in conspiracy over 
an area of 733,14tt square miles 
connected with a shore line of 
25,144 miles; a coast line of 
3,522 miles; and an interior 
boundary of 7,031 miles. Had the people of the United 
States, through Congress, been more thoughtful concern- 
ing the object of, and necessity for, the military arm, 
paralysis would have been avoided through the availa- 
bility of a suitable force to crush the initial of the Rebel- 
lion, and the State, in combat with its own children, 
would have been spared a great sacrifice of human life — 
including that of the Commander-in-Chief of the Army 
and Navy — aside from a debt of $2,718,656,173.13 incident 
to and arising from the war. All this independently of 
a pension debt, from 1861 to 1875, of $279,791,465.36, 
since increased about $150,000,000; thus aggregating 
$429,791,465.36. 

Early in the struggle, the question was not : W[\^t will 
it cost? but, Can the Government be saved, at any cost? 

[100] 



Secretary Stanton. 



THE MILITARY POWER OF THE UNITED STATES 

The magnitude attained by the Rebellion is most in- 
structive, for the public debt and the money paid to pen- 
sioners — $3,148,447,038.49 — would support our present* 
(1881) military force, costing, say, $30,000,000 yearly, for 
one hundred and five years. Now, however, as a result of 
temporary expedients coupled with shameful neglect, the 
people have to pay the debt; expend say $30,000,000 
yearly for pensions, t and support an army costing yearly 
$30,000,000. That is to say, we have lost, by not having 
an available force to prevent rebellion, $3,148,447,638.49.* 

Powerless, however, as the Government then was to 
overcome the gigantic attack, there was, fortunately, a 
grand latent power, awaiting for its development only 
the demand of the national heart and the Eegular Army 
to educate it and prepare it for service. After seven 
months of preparation that power was manifest, under an 
organization numbering 640,637 officers and enlisted men 
— the Volunteer Army of the United States, with its 
elements of patriotism, wisdom, courage and moderation. 

Mobilization. 
1861. 

On January 1, the authorized Army of the United 
States consisted of tAVO regiments of dragoons ; two regi- 
ments of cavalry ; one regiment of mounted riflemen ; four 
regiments of artillery; and ten regiments of infantry- 
aggregating, present and absent, 16,402 commissioned 
officers and enlisted men, inclusive of the general officers 
and general staff. 

On April 14, it was officially promulgated, by the Pres- 

*This article was written in 1881. 

tEstimated amount for the year ending June 30, 1882, $68, 28s, 
306.68; inclusive of certain arrears. 

JAt this date, June, 1902, we have lost by not having an availa- 
ble force to prevent rebellion, $5,383,378,035. An amount that 
would support an array costing yearly say $100,000,000. about 54 
years. 

[101] 



WASHINGTON DURING WAR TIME 

ident of the United States, that revolutionary combina- 
tions existed in certain States, and 75,000 militia, for 
three months' service, were called to suppress said com- 
binations and to cause the laws to be duly executed. 
In addition, all lo^^al citizens were appealed to that they 
might favor, facilitate, and aid the effort to maintain 
'•the honor, the integrity, and the existence of our Na- 
tional Union, and the perpetuity of popular government, 
and to redress wrongs already long enough endured." 
The President deemed it proper to add, that the first 
service of the forces would, probabl}^, be to repossess the 
forts, places and property which had been seized from 
the Union, and directed that in every event, consistently 
with the objects he had referred to, care should be taken 
to avoid "any devastation, any destruction of or inter- 
ference with property, or any disturbance of peaceful 
citizens in any part of the country." 

When the President took this first decided action 
against the rebellion, the danger threatening the seat of 
Government will be indicated in the following : 

Headquarters or the Army, 
Washington, April 26^ 1861, 

General Orders No. 4. 

I. From the known assemblage, near this city, of num- 
erous hostile bodies of troops, it is evident that an attack 
upon it may be expected. In such an event, to meet 
and repel the enemy, it is necessary that some plan of 
harmonious co-operation should be adopted on the part 
of all the forces, regular and volunteer, present for the 
defense of the Capital — that is, for the defense of the 
Government, the peaceable inhabitants of the city, their 
property, the public buildings, and public archives. 

IT. At the first moment of attack every regiment, bat- 
talion, squadron, and indeiDendent company will promptly 
assemble at its established rendezvous (in or out of the 
public buildings) ready for battle, and wait for orders. 

[102] 



THE MILITARY POWER OF THE UNITED STATES 

III. The piquets (or advanced guards) will stand fast 
till driven in by overwhelming forces; but it is ex- 
pected that those stationed to defend bridges — having 
every advantage of position — will not give way till act- 
ually pushed by the bayonet. Such obstinacy on the parts 
of piquets so stationed is absolutely necessary to give time 
for the troops in the rear to assemble at their places of 
rendezvous. 

IV. All advance guards and piquets driven in, will fall 
back slowly to delay the advance of the enemy as much 
as possible before repairing to their proper rendezvous. 

Y. On the happening of an attack, the troops lodged 
in the public buildings, and in the Navy Yard, will remain 
for their defense, respectively, unless specially ordered 
elsewhere ; with the exceptions that the Seventh New York 
regiment and the Massachusetts regiment will march 
rapidly toward the President's Square for its defense; 
and the Rhode Island regiment (in the Department of the 
Interior) when full, will make a diversion, by detach- 
ment, to assist in the defense of the General Post Office 
Building, if necessary. Winfield Scott. 

On May 3, the President deemed it indispensably neces- 
sary to further augment the forces by 42,034 three-year 
volunteers (39 regiments of infantry and one of cavalry) ; 
and 22,714 officers and enlisted men of the regular army 
(8 regiments of infantry, one of cavalry and one of 
artillery). The augmentation was confirmed by the act 
of Congress apj)roved August 6, 1861. 

Thus the forces, exclusive of the Navy, authorized "for 
the protection of the National Union by the suppression 
of the insurrectionary combinations" then existing, were: 

Regular Army (January 1, 1861) 16,402 

Militia (April 15, 1861) 75,000 

Regulars and Volunteers (May 3, 1861) 64,748 

Total 156,150 



[103] 



WASHINGTON DURING WAR TIME 

It must be remembered that while it was intended that 
the regular army should aggregate 39,11G (1G,402 plus 
22,714) it fell far short of that number, and did not reach 
the authorized standard at any time during the Avar, as 
will appear from the aggregate strength — present and 
absent — at various dates, as follows: July 1, 18G1, 10,422; 
January 1, 1862, 22,425; March 31, 18G2, 23,308; January 
1, 18G3, 25,4G3; January 1, 1864, 24,636; January 1, 18G5, 
22,019 ; March 31, 1865, 21,660. 

The call for militia was more than met; 91,816 were 
furnished — but the force was hardly mustered in when 
terms of service found their expiration. The call for 40 
reiriments of volunteers was more than met — 71 reofiments 
of infantry, 1 of lieav}^ artiller}^, and 10 batteries of light 
artillery were accepted and mustered into the service 
before July 1. 

In July the magnitude of the unlawful violence had 
fully dawned and it Avas clearly apparent that the meas- 
ures authorized for the impartial enforcement of constitu- 
tional laws, and for the speedy restoration of peace and 
order, had failed. Congress assembled, and by the acts 
approved, respectively, July 22 and 25, authorized the 
President to accept 500,000 A^olunteers for three years or 
the war. Extended latitude, as to the acceptance, Avas 
conferred by the act approved July 31, in that "previous 
proclamation" Avas done away Avith, and that the volun- 
teers Avere authorized to be accepted "in such numbers, 
from any State or States as in his (the President's) dis- 
cretion the public serAdce may require." 

1862. 

The recruitment was so energetically pressed by the 

people that on January 1, 553,492 men Avere in active 

service, and on March 31, the number had been increased 

to 613,813. With such a force — believed by the people 

[104] 



THE MILITARY POWER OF THE UNITED STATES 

sufficient to overcome the rebellion — there were necessar- 
ily vast expenditures, and consequently the Government 
was pressed to discontinue the recruiting service; and it 
was, on April 3, discontinued for every State — officers 
with their details joined their respective regiments, and 
the public property belonging to the service was sold. At 
this time, had any one said that it would require 2,G00,000 
enlistments, from the first to last, and an increase of the 
volunteer forces, in service at one time, to 1,000,000, in 
order that armed resistance to the Government might be 
o\erthrown, the assertion would have been considered as 
marking insanity. An officer, with fame now world-wide, 
early in 1861, urged the calling out of 300,000 men; and 
more than one person alleged him to be under a visitation 
of insanity — a subject fit for an institution having for its 
object "the most humane care and enlightened curative 
treatment of the insane of the Army." 

Fortunately, the error of non-recruitment for the forces 
was soon forced to the observation of the Executive, and, 
June G, the recruiting service was ordered to be resumed. 

The blighting effect of the discontinuance had influ- 
ence over future attempts to recruit the Armies. 

On June 30, the volunteer forces were as follows : 

Cavalry 76,844 

Artillery 30,467 

Infantrv 514,723 

Grand aggregate 622,034 ; inclusive 

of 15,007 three-months men furnished in May and June, 
under special authority. 

The entire number of volunteers furnished under the 
calls of May 3, 1861, and the acts approved, respectively, 
July 22 and 25, 1861, was as follows : 

Three years, 67,868 ; two years, 30,950 ; one year, 9,147 ; 
six months, 2,715 ; a total of 70,680. 

[106] 



WAgttlKGtON DURING WAll TIME 

A comparison of this with the strength of the forces 
in service at varions dates, points to the rapidity with 
which they were depleted, and the hirge numbers required 
to meet casualties. 

On June 28, the Governors of Maine, New Hampshire, 
Vermont, Connecticut, Ncav York, New Jersey, Pennsyl- 
vania, Maryland, Virginia, Michigan, Tennessee, Mis- 
souri, Indiana, Ohio, Minnesota, Illinois and Wisconsin — 
also the President of the Military Board of Kentucky, 
requested the President to call upon the several States 
for such number of men as might be required to fill up all 
organizations in the field, and to add to the armies then 
organized. The request was based on a desire that the 
recent success of the Federal armies might be followed 
by. measures which Avould secure the speedy restoration 
of the Union, and the belief, in view of the important 
military movements then in progress, that the time had 
arrived for i)rompt and vigorous measures, thus to speed- 
ily crush the rebellion. The decisive moment seemed near 
at hand, and the people were desirous to aid, promptly, in 
furnishing all needful re-enforcements to sustain the 
Government. 

The President concurred in the wisdom of the views 
expressed in the request, and, on July 2, called for 300,000 
men for three years. He was enabled to do this under the 
extended authority conferred by the act on July 31, 1861. 
This call for volunteers was, on August 4, supplemented 
by one, through a draft, for 300,000 militia, for nine 
months' service. These efforts secured 421,465 three-year 
volunteers, and 88,588 nine-months' militia. By Septem- 
ber 17, 212,488 of the numbers had been furnished and 
were mainly in the field; on November 21, the aggregate 
was 370,349 ; and on the same date the strength of the 
volunteer armies of the United States was: 

[106] _ . 



THE MILITARY POWER OF THE UNITED STATES 

Grand aggregate, officers and enlisted 790,197 

Sick, wounded, and absent 124,012 

Leaving present for dutv GGG,185 

1863. 

On Januar}^ 1, the volunteer forces numbered 892,728. 
From that date, notwithstanding that musters out and 
casualties would soon heavily reduce the armies, there was 
a marked lethargy in the recruitment of the forces, and, 
to October 1, the volunteers and militia mustered into 
service onlv numbered as follows: 

For Xew Organizations. 

Three years 49,0G9 

One year 1,059 

Nine months 917 

Six months 12,787 63,832 

For Old Organizations. 

Three years 19,174 

One year 72 

Nine months 149 

Six months 15 19,410 

Unassigned. 

New 2,570 

Old 1,921 

Colored 970 5,461 

Grand total 88,703 

A number far from sufficient to maintain the necessary 
strength. While 100,000 militia were called for by the 
President's proclamation of June 15, only 1G,361 were 
furnished. 

Fortunately for the Government, on March 3, 1863, 
the act of Congress, "for enrolling and calling out the 
national forces, and for other purposes," was ajDproved 
by the President; and thus the people were to become 
familiar with conscription. 

£107] 



WASHINGTON DURING WAR TIME 



Under the enrollment act the subjects of "credit" for 
men furnished to the military service, was realized as one 
of great importance, and it became necessary to know 
how the respective States stood in account with the 
General Government. The following exhibit served as 
the working basis for quotas under future calls : 



state. 


Deficiency. 


Excess. 


Connecticut 


1,748 
473 




Delaware 




IlUnois 


60 171 


Indiana 


25,511 


Iowa 




13,897 


Kansas 


Not determined 
Not determined 

2,892 
13,302 

5,851 




Kentucky 




Maine 




Maryland 




Massachusetts 




Michigan 


5,238 


Missouri 


Not determined 




Minnesota 


2,535 


New Hampshire 


388 
12,503 




New Jersey 




New York 


5,517 
28,429 


Ohio 




Pennsylvania 


15,407 


Rhode Island 


1 198 


Tennessee ^. . 


Not determined 
None 




Vermont 


None 


West Virginia 


3 373 


Wisconsin 




3,578 






Total 


52,564 


149,393 





The aggregate deficiency, under all calls, at the term- 
ination of the war was 68,648; the number would have 
been obtained in full had recruiting and drafting been 
continued. 

On October 1, the strength of the volunteer armies was, 
present and absent, 812,578. 

On October 17, the President called for 300,000 volun- 
teers for three years' service, and directed that any 
deficiency that might exist on January 5, 1864, should be 
filled by draft. At the same time he addressed himself 

[108] 



THE MILITARY POWER OF THE UNITED STATES 

to the people, invoking them to lend a willing, cheerful, 
and effective aid to the measures thus adopted, 'Svith a 
view to reinforce our victorious armies in the field, and 
bring our needful military operations to a prosperous end, 
thus closing forever the fountains of sedition and civil 



war." 



1864. 



On January 1, the volunteer forces aggregated 836,101. 

On February 1, a draft for 500,000 men was ordered, 
but owing to the allowance of "credits by enlistment and 
draft," the call, practically, was only for 200,000. 

Under the calls of October 17, 1863, and the draft of 
February 1, 1864, 317,092 men were obtained for three 
years and 52,288 paid commutation. 

Soon after, on February 24, by act of Congress ap- 
proved that date, the President was authorized, whenever 
he deemed it necessary during the war, to call for such 
number of men for the militarv service of the United 
States as the public exigencies might require, it estab- 
lished "the will of the President as the authority for rais- 
ing troops," and conferred a delicate and mighty power. 

On March 14, a call was made for 200,000 men for three 
years; 259,515 were furnished, and 32,678 paid commuta- 
tion. 

On July 18, there was a further call for 500,000; the 
volunteers were accepted for one, two, or three years, as 
they desired, and the States were given fifty days in 
which to raise their quotas, in accordance with section 2 
of the enrollment act approved on July 14; 386,461 men 
were supplied, and 1,298 paid commutation. 

From April 23 to July 5 inclusive, several calls for 
troops, to serve not exceeding 100 days, were made. Under 
them 95 regiments, 2 battalions, and 26 independent com- 
panies were furnished — mainly infantry. 

[109] 



WASHINGTON DURING WAR TIME 

On December 10 there was a call for 300,000 men to 
serve for one, two, or three years; but after 194,635 had 
been raised under it — active military operations having 
ceased — April 13, 18G5, orders were promulgated to dis- 
continue recruitment. 

18G5. 

On January 1, the strength of the Volunteer Army was 
937,441; March 31, 958,471; May 1, 1,034,064. 

The results accomplished, during the period embraced 
in the foregoing, will be apparent from the following 
exhibits : 

1. — Number of organizations — volunteers and militia — organized 
and mustered into the service of the United States during- the 
rebellion — by calls. 





Infantry. 
No. of— 


Cavalry. 
No. of- 


Artillery. No. of— 


Calls— under which 


m 
+J 

s 

o 

« 

104 

560 
346 

72 
8 

18 

12 

95 
66 
54 

333 

1,668 


3 

ca 
1 

, 

3 

• 

2 

15 
21 


*- r^ 

S£ 
— o 

17 

42 

24 

5 

2 

8 

17 

18 
94 

128 

149 

504 


02 

-t-i 

G 

a 

82 

44 

1 

4 

20 

11 

3 

2 

65 
232 


C 

o 
c5 

3 

1 

5 
9 


CO 

II 

S£ 

ao 
o -^ 

'O 

»— 1 

2 

28 

4 
13 
11 

18 

5 
o 

39 
122 


Reg'ts. 


Battl's. 


Comp's. 


furnished. 


• 
4- 

Tc 
S " 

6 
1 

1 
8 


> 
o 

X 

9 
12 

1 
3 

7 

12 
44 


be 

3 

1 

1 

5 


• 

i> 
o 

w 
1 

. 

• 

1 


• 

OC 

11 

129 

57 

2 

6 

8 

5 

2 
1 
1 

22 

244 


• 


April 15, 1861 . . . 
May 3 and acts of July 

22 and 25, 1861 . . 
July 2, 1862 . . . . 
August 4, 1862 . . . 
June 15, 1863 . . . 
October 17, 1863 . . 
February 1 and March 

14, 1864 

1864, for 100-day 

troops 

July 18, 1864 . . . 
December 19, 1864 . 
Special, 1861, 1862, 

1863, 1864 .... 

Grand total . . 


• • 

3 

• • 

1 
3 

• • 

1 

22 
30 



[110] 



2. — Number of organizations — volunteers and militia — organized 
and mustered into the service of the United States during the 
rebellion by States and Territories. 





Infantry. 


Cavalry. ' 


Artillery. No. of— 




w 


CO 


«" 


CO 




Rett's. 


Bat'l's. 


Corap-g. 


States and Territories. 


a 

To 

Pi 


"5 

n 


a 


a 

'be 

2 
4 


^ ?a 
1 . 


. . . Light. 
. . . Heavy. 


-1.3 

To 


o 


-4J 

bo 

2 


> 

S 


Alabama 






Arizona 




1 
1 




Arkansas ..... 


2 




California 


8 




. 


2 


1 . 








, a 




Colorado 


1 




1 


3 


. 








1 


. ' 


Connecticut .... 


27 




4 


, 


. 6 


o 






2 




Dakota 


• 




. 


. 


2 








• • 




Delaware 


6 




3 


1 


• ■ 








1 


1 


District of Columbia. 


9 




40 


, 


1 1 








• • 




Florida 


, 




, 


2 


1 








. 




Georgia 






2 


. 


. 








^ , 




Illinois 


155 




67 


15 


. 18 








38 




Indiana 


138 






11 


1 








26 




Indian Territory . . 


3 




2 




. 








• • 




Iowa 


45 


1 


24 


9 


. 2 








4 




Kansas 


y 






8 


• , 








4 




Kentucky 


47 




. 


17 


• . 








7 




Louisiana 


4 


1 


. 


2 


. 








. 




Maine 


31 




49 


2 


. 8 


1 






7 


3 


Maryland 


18 




5 


1 


. 9 








5 




Massachusetts . . . 


69 


1 


39 


5 


7 


. 4 




1 


19 


8 


Michiiian 


37 




6 


11 


2 








14 




Minnesota 


12 




3 


2 


. 10 


1 






3 




Mississippi 


• ■ ' 




. 


1 


• 








. 




Missouri 


75 


11 


41 


29 


3 2 


2 1 






8 




Nebraska 






3 

10 


2 
1 


1 
6 


1 






1 




Nevada 






New Hampshire . . 


17 




2 


New Jersey .... 


37 




11 


3 


. 








6 




New Mexico .... 


6 






1 


, 








. 




New York 


24.") 




57 


29 


5 


2 13 


tj 


> 


29 




North Carolina . . . 


4 




















Ohio 


218 




25 


13 


. 18 


1 2 






28 




Oregon 


1 






1 


. 


, 






. 




Pennsylvania . . . 


189 


5 


92 


24 


1 13 


1 4 


2 


» 


6 


10 


Ehode Island . . . 


9 




6 


2 




1 2 






2 




South Carolina . . . 


, , 






, 




• 






. 




Tennessee 


16 






12 


3 


1 . 






. 




Texas 






3 


o 

1 


2 
. 2 


1 






3 




Vermont 


16 


1 


Virginia 


1 




1 


. 


. 








. 




Washington Territory 


r 




3 




. 








. . 




West Virginia . . . 


18 




2 


4 


. 








6 




Wisconsin . . 


51 




1 


3 


1 








13 




First Army Corps . . 


9 




. 


. 


. 








• • 




U. S. Volunteers . . 


6 








. , 








• 




U. S. Colored Troops 


133 




4 


7 


• 


. 12 






10 




Grand total . . 


1,668 


21 


L504 


232 


1 9 122 


8 44 




) ] 


L 244 


30 



3. — Number of men called for, and number furnished, etc., by each 
State, Territory, and the District of Columbia, during the 
War of the Rebellion. 



States and 
Territories. 



Maine 

NeAV Hampshire . . 

Vermont 

Massachusetts . . . 

Khode Island. . . . 

Connecticut. . . , 

New York .... 

New Jersey .... 

Pennsylvania . . . 

Delaware 

Maryland 

West Virginia . . . 

District of Columbia 

Ohio 

Indiana 

Illinois 

Michigan ..... 

Wisconsin .... 

Minnesota .... 

Iowa 

IVIissonri 

Kentucky 

Kani-as 

Tennessee . . . 

Arkansas .... 

North Carolina . 

California. . . . 

Nevada 

Oregon 

Washington Terri- 
tory 

Nebraska Territory 

Colorado Territory 

Dakota Territory 

New Mexico Terri- 
tory 

Alabama ..... 

Florida 

Louisiana. ... 

Mississippi ... 

Texas 

Indian Nation 



Ag-grea-ate. 



Total 



Quota. 



73.587 

35,897 

32,074 

139,09:) 

18,898 

44,797 

507,146 

92,8-20 

385, :\{iU 

13.935 

70,}(()5 

34,403 

13,973 

3(K),322 

199,788 

244,496 

95,007 

109,080 

2(;,320 

79,521 

122,496 

100,782 

12,931 

1,560 

780 

15,560 



2,763,670 



Men 
furnished. 



70.107 
33,937 
33,288 

146.730 
23,236 
55,864 

448,850 
76,814 

327,936 
12,284 
46,638 
32,068 
16,534 

313,180 

1!)6,363 

259,092 
87,364 
91,327 
24,020 
76,242 

109,111 

75,760 

2<M49 

31,092 

8,289 

3,156 

15,725 

1,080 

1,810 

964 
3,157 
4,9( 3 

206 

6,561 
2,576 
1,290 
5,224 
545 
1,965 
3,530 



2,678,967 



o o 



2,007 
692 

1,974 

5,318 
463 

1,515 
18,197 

4,196 
28,171 

1,386 

3,678 

338 
6.479 

784 

55 

2,008 

5,097 

1,032 

67 

3,265 





86,724 



Total. 



72,114 
34,629 
35,262 

152,048 
23,699 
57,379 

467,047 
81,010 

366,107 
13,670 
50,316 
32,068 
16,872 

319,659 

197,147 

259,147 
89,372 
96,424 
25,052 
76.309 

109,111 

79,(-25 

20,151 

31 .092 

8,289 

3,156 

15.725 

1,080 

1,810 

964 
3,157 
4,903 

206 

6,561 
2,576 
1,290 
5,224 
545 
1,965 
3,530 



2,765,691 



Aggregate 
retiucod to 
a 3 years' 
standard. 



56,776 

30,849 

29,068 

124,104 

17,866 

50,623 

392,270 

57.908 

265.517 

10,322 

41.275 

27,714 

11,506 

240,514 

153,576 

214,133 

80,111 

79,260 

19,693 

68,630 

86,530 

70,832 

1«,706 

26,394 

7,836 

3,156 

15,725 

1 ,080 

],773 



964 
2,175 
3,697 

206 



4,432 
1,611 
1 ,290 
4,654 
545 
1,632 
3,530 



2,228,483 



THE MILITARY POWER OF THE UNITED STATES 

The constant addition to the forces of new regiments, 
proved a great element of weakness to the armies. As a 
great evil it may here be referred to. 

Under every call, the first act of Governors of States 
was to ask the authority to raise new regiments. The 
desire of the War Department was to secure recruits for 
old regiments, and thus maintain their organizations. 
The Secretary of War, in order to a determined stand, 
secured, in December, 1864, the views of the General-in- 
Chief and Army commanders. All were in support of 
the opinion of the Secretary, relative to the necessity of 
recruits for old regiments ; but the pressure of the States 
caused all, as on former occasions, to yield, and 56 new 
regiments and 129 new independent companies under the 
call of December 10, 1864, were added to the list of 
organizations in service, 77 regiments and 98 companies 
having been added under the call of July 18, 1864. All 
this at a time when the Army of the Potomac, alone, 
required 80,000 recruits to fill its organizations to the 
maximum — some 400,000 would have been necessary for 
all the armies — and when experienced and gallant lieu- 
tenant colonels and other regimental officers, bearing the 
wounds of many battles, could not receive promotion 
owing to the depleted state of their commands. The 
subject was pointedly referred to by the commander of 
one of the armies, as follows : 

The raising of new regiments is a means desired to fill 
the quota and avoid the draft. 

There is no intention, T suppose, that these new regi- 
ments should serve the United States, and their colonels 
will hardly come into contact with the army. Still if it 
be the intention to put these new regiments into the field, 
where they would have command of older and better 
regimental commanders, it is a question for the War De- 
partment to determine, and not mine. I must take troops 

» [113] 



WASHINGTON DURING WAR TIME 

as they come to me, and respect the commissions they 
hold. 
Marvellous results have been achieved by the United 

States, as exemplified by what has been recorded in the 

foregoing, in connection with the following summary : 

1. On July 1, 1861, the strength of the Volunteer Army 
was 170,329. If there be added 77,875 militia for three 
months, obtained immediately under the call of April 
15, 18G1, we have 248,204 men recruited and placed in 
service in two and one-half months, an average of almost 
100,000 a month. From July 1, 1861, to January 1, 1862, 
the average number a month actually added to the forces 
was 63,860, in all, 383,163, this without the aid of extra- 
ordinary expedients and in the face of great difficulties 
met with in arming, clothing, and equipping. 

The foregoing is with reference to the actual strength 
on January 1, 1862, and without regard to depletion from 
disability and other causes, so great that on August 11, 
1862, the official returns indicated that 272,328 recruits 
were required to fill the regiments then in service. 

On December 1, 1861, the estimated strength of the 
forces was 640,637, and on that basis the average num- 
ber of men a month recruited from July 1, 1861, to Decem- 
ber 1, 1861, was 94,061— in all 470,308. 

The difficulties in arming, clothing, and equipments 
were so great that the service of hundreds of thousands 
were declined. Could arms, clothing, and equipage have 
been secured, it is safe to say that 1,000,000 of men could 
have been placed in service witliin five months. 

2. One State, Illinois, under the calls of July 2 and 
August 4, 1862, placed in service 58,689 men. Of that 
number over 50,000 — from the farmers and mechanics of 
the State — were furnished within eleven days. 

"Animated by a common purpose and firmly resolved on 

111*] 



THE MILITARY POWER OF THE UNITED STATES 

rescuing the Government [they] left their harvest un- 
gathered, their tools on the benches, the plows in the 
furrows," thus making a proud record, without a palallel 
in the history of the war. 

3. Under the calls of July 2 and August 4, 1862, there 
were prior to ISJ^ovember 21 of the same year, sent to the 
field : 

289 regiments of infantry for 3 years, 
58 regiments of infantry for 9 months, 
34 batteries of artillery for 3 years, 
42 companies of cavalry for 3 years, and 
36 companies of cavalry for 9 months; 
and 50,000 recruits for old three-year regiments — a grand 
aggregate of 370,349 men; an average of about 82,211 a 
month. 

4. Under the proposition (accepted by the President on 
April 23, 1864) of the Governors of Ohio, Indiana, Ulir 
nois, Iowa and Wisconsin, to furnish 85,000 one-hundred- 
day troops, the Governor of Ohio, in response to the War 
Department call of May 1, ordered the contribution of the 
State to rendezvous in the respective counties at the most 
eligible places, on May 2. At seven and one-half o'clock, 
p. M., the same date, reports recited 38,000 men in camp. 
In twelve days 36,254 men were organized into 41 regi- 
ments and one battalion, mustered, clothed, armed, equip- 
ped, and ready for transportation to the field. 

On May 24, 22 days from date of rendezvous, the forty- 
two regiments embracing the force were in active service. 

5. During four months in 1864, 295,011 three year men 
were placed in the field — 69,533 in February and 115,000 
in September. 

6. February, 1865, 69,000 one, two, and three year men 
were furnished by four States, as follows: 

[115] 



WASHINGTON DURING WAR TIME 

Ohio ". . . . 10,984 

Indiana 11,317 

Illinois 13,69() 

Wisconsin 5,015 

Total 41,012 

or sixty per cent, of the entire number from all the States. 

Inclusive of ^larch, 1865, the number was increased to 
136,000, of which the same States furnished 18,783; 
17,993; 22,016; and 8,142 respectively— 66,934 or forty- 
nine per cent, of the entire number recruited within the 
two months. 

7. More than 2,600,000 men were furnished on the 
Union side, and about 800,000, approximately, on the Con- 
federate—an aggregate North and South, of 3,400,000. 
That is to say— from April 15, 1861, to April 28, 1865, 
a period of about 48 consecutive months, the country sup- 
plied, monthly, an average of almost 71,000 — a large 
army — for military service. 

DiSBANDMENT. 

April 28, 1865, in view of the speedy termination of 
hostilities, the Secretary of War, immediately after his 
return from a meeting of the cabinet, directed General 
Orders, No. 77, series of 1865, "for reducing the expenses 
of the military establishment" to be promulgated. 

That order was prepared, personally, by the Secretary, 
and handed to me, with directions to change it as might 
seem necessary. The order, in its main feature, was found 
to cover fully every essential connected with so great and 
important an undertaking, and is here referred to, as 
illustrating the wonderful knowledge, in detail, which 
the distinguished Minister of War possessed relative to 
the military establishment. He knew it, intimately, in 

[116] 



THE MILITARY POWER OF THE UNITED STATES 

all its parts; such had been the great devotion and study 
given by him to the personnel and materiel. 

Preliminary orders to muster out, were given as fol- 
lows : 

April 29. All recruits, drafted men, substitutes, and 
volunteers remaining at the several State depots. 

May 4. All patients in hospitals ; except veteran volun- 
teers, and the veterans of the First Army Corps (Han- 
cock's). 

May 8. All troops of the cavalry arm, whose terms of 
service would expire prior to October 1. 

May 9. All officers and enlisted men, whose terms would 
expire prior to May 31, inclusive. 

To cover the heavy undertaking of disbanding the prin- 
cipal portion of the forces, with their regimental and 
company organizations. General Order, No. 94, from the 
Adjutant General's Office, dated May 15, was promul- 
gated. 

At the meeting which decided the method, the Secre- 
tar}^ realized the vastness of the work about to be under- 
taken, and the responsibility attaching to the War 
Department. When informed that I had already pre- 
pared a method for effecting the disbandment he gave 
evidence of his great relief. The arrangements for the 
care of discharged troops having been completed, orders 
to muster out, and discharge from service were issued. 
The orders were of various dates between May 17, 1865, 
to July 11, 1866. 

The rapidity with which the work was executed will 
be apparent from the fact that, to August 7, 640,806 
troops had been mustered out; August 22, 719,338; Sep- 
tember 14, 741,107; October 15, 785,205; November 15, 
800,963 ; January 20, 1866, 918,722 ; February 15, 952,452 ; 
March 10, 967,887; May 1, 968,782; June 30, 1,010,670; 

[117] 



WASHINGTON DURING WAR TIME 

November 1, 1,023,021, leaving then in service 11,043 
volunteers, colored and white. 

The command of Major General Sherman (Army of 
the Tennessee and Army of Georgia) and the Army of 
the Potomac were first to complete their musters-out, en- 
tirely. Regiments began leaving General Sherman's com- 
mand, then numbering present and absent, 116,183 officers 
and men, from the rendezvous near Washington on May 
29, and on August 1, the last one of the regiments mus- 
tered out left Louisville, Kentucky, to which point the 
command (after the musters-out therefrom were partly 
completed) was transferred, and the armies composing it 
merged into one, called the Army of the Tennessee. The 
work of mustering out the troops was not continuous — 
it was interrupted and delayed by the transfer of the two 
armies from Washington to Louisville and their subse- 
quent consolidation. 

Regiments began leaving the Army of the Potomac 
(numbering, including Ninth Corps, 162,851 officers and 
men, present and absent) from the rendezvous near Wash- 
ington on May 29, and about six weeks thereafter (July 
19y the last regiment started for home. During the inter- 
val, the work, like that of General Sherman's command, 
was not continuous. It was interrupted and delayed by 
the movement of the Sixth Corps from Danville, Vir- 
ginia, to Washington, and the consolidation, by orders of 
June 28, of the remaining portion of the army into a pro- 
visional corps, numbering, present and absent, 22,699 
officers and men. 

Thus for the two commands in question, and between 
May 29 and August 12 (two months) 279,034 officers and 
men, present and absent, were mustered out and placed 
on the way to their homes. 

Including other armies and departments, the number 

[118] 




H 

0) 

O 

P 



M 

O 

3 





Washington during war time 

was increased by August 7 (two months and seven days) 
to 640,806 officers and men. 

From the forec^oino: it will be seen that the forces were 
mustered out mainly by September 14, or within two and 
one-half months from the time the movements of troops 
homeward began. The monthly average during that time 
was 296,442. 

Had it been possible to spare all the volunteers, the 
entire number, 1,034,064, could have been disbanded and 
returned to their homes within three months from the 
date (May 29, 1865) when the movement homeward be- 
gan. 

The disbandment progressed rapidly and quietly, and 
has been fittingh^ referred to by the General of the Army, 
in his report of October 20, 1865, as follows: 

The reduction of the army was now made by organiza- 
tions, and during the month of July, the two most impor- 
tant armies in the countiy — that of the Potomac and of 
the Tennessee — returned to the people, from whom they 
liad come four vears before. Since that time, the reduc- 
tion of the troops left in the Southern States to secure 
order and protect the freemen in the liberty conferred on 
them, has been gradually going on, in proportion as con- 
tinued quiet and good order have justified it. 

On May 1, 1865, the aggregate of the military force of 
tha United States was 1.000,516* men. On October 20 
this had been reduced, as is estimated, to 210,000 and fur- 
ther reductions are still being made. 

These musters-out were admirably conducted, eight 
hundred thousand men passing from the army to civil 
life so quietly that it was scarcely known, save by the 
welcome to their homes received by them. 



♦Subsequently found to be 1,034,064. 



the mtlitart pout^h of the united states 

Logistical Measures — The Science of the Staff. 
1. Involving the Personnel. 

The Adjutant General's Department, and the Bureau 
of the Provost Marshal General, had to do with supply- 
ing men for the armies. The former, in addition, was 
charged with the organization and disbandment of the 
forces. The following will indicate as to both: 

ADJUTANT general's DEPARTMENT. 

The recruitment of white volunteers was under the 
exclusive control of the Adjutant General, from the first 
call for troops until May, 1863, when it was placed under 
the Provost Marshal General, who by the law was charged 
with the enrollment and draft; thus the entire recruiting 
service for white volunteers was properly placed under 
one head. It was believed that the change would reduce 
the expenses of recruitment through the more rigid con- 
trol secured bv the enrollment act. 

The regulations framed by the Adjutant General's 
Officer, for the volunteer recruiting service, remained in 
force, with but slight modifications, during the war. 

In addition to the recruiting of white volunteers, prior 
to May 1, 1803, the Adjutant General was charged with 
the recruitment of all colored volunteers and the re-en- 
listment of veteran volunteers in the field. The Adjutant 
General had, simply, to do with the formal re-enlistment 
of the veterans. The jDlan for their recruitment was de- 
vised and prepared by the Provost Marshal General. 

The following is a summary of the number: 

Militia (3 and 9 months) from April 15, 

18G1, to May 1, 18G3 195,921 

Volunteers from May 3, 18G1, to May 1, 

1863 1,149,719 

Colored troops during the war 169,624 

Total 1,515,264 

[121] 



WASHINGTON DURING WAR TIME 

Veteran volunteers, re-enlistment in the field, 1863- 
'64 under the recruitment system of the Provost 
Marshal General, 138,251. 

The foregoing involved: 

1. The establishment and management of the general 
depots, or rendezvous in the several States, for collecting 
and instructing recruits. 

2. The care of all recruits (including those enlisted 
under the Provost Marshal General's Bureau) after arriv- 
ing at general depot. 

3. The organization of the recruits for new commands, 
into regiments and companies; also the framing of the 
numerous orders and regulations relative to the organiza- 
tion of the volunteer forces, and the responsibility for 
their enforcement. 

4. The forwarding of all troops, new organizations and 
detachments of recruits for old ones, to the field. 

5. The muster-in of commissioned officers and enlisted 
men for all organizations in the field, and for those serv- 
ing elsewhere under the control of commanding generals 
of departments. This important duty, involving many 
difficult questions, upon the solution of which depended 
the beginning of pay, or date of rank, required at times a 
corps of two hundred commissaries, and assistant com- 
missaries of musters, or one commissary for each military 
geographical division and department, and each army, 
and one assistant for each division of troops. 

6. The mustering out and discharging all volunteers 
and militia, and the general direction of them whilst 
returning to their homes. 

7. The charge connected with a personnel of 1,034,064 
officers and enlisted men in so far as involved their mili- 
tarv records. Of this number, the records attached to 
90,000 commissioned officers, involving leaves of absence, 
resignations, dismissals, etc. 

[122] 



THE MILITARY POWER OF THE UNITED STATES 
PROVOST MARSHAL GENERAL's BUREAU. 

The following is a condensed summary of the results 
of the operations of that bureau from its organization to 
the close of the war : 

1. By means of a full and exact enrollment of all per- 
sons liable to conscription under the law of March 3, 
18G3, and its amendments, a complete exhibit of the mili- 
tary resources of the loyal States in men was made show- 
ing an aggregate number of 2,254,063 men, not including 
1,000,510 soldiers actually under arms when hostilities 
ceased. 

2. There were 1,120,621 men raised at an average cost 
(on account of recruitment, exclusive of bounties) of 
$9.84 per man; while the cost of recruiting the 1,356,593 
raised prior to the organization of the bureau was $34.01 
per man. A saving of 70 cents on the dollar in the cost 
of raising troops was thus effected under this bureau, 
notwithstanding the increase in the price of subsistence, 
transportation, rents, etc., during the last two years of the 
war. 

There were '(6,526 deserters arrested and returned to 
the army. 

The vigilance and energy of the officers of the bureau 
in this branch of business put an effectual check to the 
wide-spread evil of desertion, which at one time impaired 
so seriously the numerical strength and efficiency of the 
army. 

4. The quotas of men furnished by the various parts of 
the country were equalized, and a proportionate share of 
military service secured from each, thus removing the 
very serious inequality of recruitment, which had arisen 
during the first two years of the war, and which when 
the bureau was organized had become an almost insuper- 
able obstacle to further progress in raising troops. 

5. Records were completed, showing minutely the phys- 
ical condition of 1,014,776 of the men examined and 
tables of great scientific and professional value have been 
compiled from these data. 

6. The casualties in the entire military force of the 

[123] 



WASHINGTON DURING WAR TIME 

nation during the War of the Rebellion, as shown by the 
official muster rolls and monthly returns, have been com- 
piled, showing, among other items, 5,221 commissioned 
officers, and 90,8G8 enlisted men killed in action, or died 
of wounds while in service; 2,321 commissioned officers, 
and 182,329 enlisted men who died from disease or acci- 
dent; making an aggregate of 280,739 officers and men 
of the Army, who lost their lives in service. 

In addition to the foregoing, the Provost Marshal Gen- 
eral has referred, in his report for .18GG, to the re-enlist- 
ment and reorganization in 18G3 and 18G4 of regiments 
then in service termed after reorganization, "Veteran 
Volunteers," as follows: 

The loss by expiration of enlistment of entire regiments 
and companies, after they had seen service enough to be- 
come vahunble soldiers, proved a serious drawoack to 
military operations during the first two years of the war. 
Soon after the organization of this bureau its attention 
was directed to the discovery and application of a remedy 
for this evil. An examination in the summer of 18G3 
showed that of 95G volunteer regiments, 7 independent 
battalions, Gl independent companies, and 158 volunteer 
batteries then in service, the terms of 455 regiments, 3 
battalions, 38 independent companies, and 81 batteries 
would expire prior to December 31, 18C4, leaving the 
army to consist at that date of 501 regiments, 4 indepen- 
dent battalions, 23 independent companies, and 77 bat- 
teries, and such new men in addition as could be raised 
in the meantime. 

The importance of retaining in the field as many as 
possible of these experienced organizations was evident. 

To effect this a scheme was prepared and submitted by 
me for the re-enlistment of three-year men still in service, 
having less than one year longer to serve, and of men 
enlisted for nine months or less, who had less than three 
months to serve. 

This plan was not carried into effect until late in the 
autumn of 1863, when the great campaigns for that year 
had closed, and the troops resting from their labors and 

[124] 



THE MILITARY POWER OF THE UNITED STATES 

looking forward to a season of comparative inactivity, 
were most anxious to visit their homes. That privilege 
was guaranteed to them by your General Order of Novem- 
ber 21, 1863, and eminent success in their reorganization 
promptly followed. 

By this expedient over 136,000 tried soldiers, whose 
services would otherwise have been lost, Avere secured, 
and capable, experienced officers continued in command. 
The exact value of the services rendered by any particu- 
lar part of the military forces may not be ascertained, 
but it may safely be asserted that the veterans thus organ- 
ized and retained performed in the closely contested cam- 
paigns subsequent to their re-enlistment, a part essential 
to the final success which attended our arms. In his 
official report of 186'!, the Secretary of War says in rela- 
tion to this subject, "I know of no operation connected 
with the recruitment of the army which has resulted in 
more advantage to the service than the one referred to." 

The patriotic determination of these troops who had 
taken a prominent part in the war to continue it until 
brought to a satisfactory close was the foundation of the 
success which attended this enterprise. Its advantages 
were not only those resulting from the actual military 
force thus retained. It produced a favorable effect on the 
recruiting service generally, and was as encouraging to 
the friends of the Government as discouraging to the in- 
surgents. 

The accession of the veterans to the military forces was 
deemed so valuable by Congress, as to warrant that body 
in extending thanks, by the Joint Resolution approved 
March 3, 1864, General Orders, No. 88, Adjutant Gen- 
eral's Office, series of that year. 

The conditions of the re-enlistment and the inducements 
connected therewith, as submitted by the Provost Marshal 
General, were promulgated in General Orders, Nos. 191 
and 376, series of 1863, from the Adjutant General's 
Office. 

[125] 



WASHINGTON DURING WAR TIME 

^. Involving the Material through the Supply Depart- 
ment. 

quartermaster's department. 

During the whole war, there was no failure of opera- 
tions through lack of transportation, or the supplies 
required of the Quartermaster's Department. Its vast 
and various stores had not only to be ready at numerous 
and widely extended points when needed, but it had to 
transport to all points, there to be in readiness at the 
proper time, the extensive quantities of provisions, medi- 
cal and hospital stores, arms and ammunition, provided 
by the other supply departments. 

Brevet Major General Meigs, Quartermaster General, 
in his annual report for 1865, said: 

I have imperfectly set forth in this report some of the 
more important operations of the Quartermaster's De- 
partment during the past year. I hope at a future time 
to be able to present to you more complete and detailed 
information of the extent of these sources, in material 
and men and money, which, under your administration 
of the War Department, have been applied to support 
and sustain the armies in every part of the wide field of 
operation, during the past four years of war. 

This information, properly digested, if published, will 
stand before the world as an example and a warning of 
the power and resources of a free people, for any contest 
into which they heartily enter, and from it the soldier 
and statesman will be able to draw valuable lessons for 
use, in case it ever again becomes necessary for this Na- 
tion to put forth its strength in arms. 

With reference to animals alone, the Department sup- 
plied 650,000 horses and 450,000 mules. In the third 
year the armies in the field required for the cavalry, artil- 
lery, and trains one-half as many animals as there were 
soldiers. 

[126] 



THE MILITARY POWER OF THE UNITED STATES 

MOVEMENTS OF TROOPS LONG DISTANCES WITHIN SHORT 

PERIODS OF TIME. 

1. The transfer in 1863, by rail, of the Eleventh and 
Twelfth Army Corps, the command aggregating 23,000 
men — accompanied by its artillery, trains, animals, and 
baggage — from the Rapidan, in Virginia, to Stevenson, in 
Alabama, a distance of 1,192 miles in seven days, crossing 
the Ohio river twice. 

2. The transfer of the Twenty-third Army Corps, 
15,000 strong, with its artillery, trains, animals, and bag- 
gage, from Clifton, Tennessee, by the Tennessee and Ohio 
rivers, and Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, to the Potomac, 
in eleven days, distance 1,400 miles. This movement 
began on Januar}^ 15, 1865, within five days after the 
movement had been determined in Washington. It was 
continued, by water, to North Carolina, where, early in 
February, Wilmington was captured. On March 22, 
when the right wing of General Sherman's army reached 
Goldsboro, it found there the Corps which a short time 
prior had been encamped on the Tennessee. 

The movement was much impeded by severe weather — 
rivers were blocked with ice, and railroads rendered haz- 
ardous by frost and snow. 

3. The transfer, by water, of the Sixteenth Army Corps 
from Eastport, Tennessee, to New Orleans. The entire 
command, including a brigade of artillery and a divis- 
ion of cavalry, consisted of 17,314 men, 1,038 horses, 
2,371 mules, 351 wagons, and 83 ambulances. Three days 
were required to embark in on 40 steamers. The fleet 
sailed on February 9, 1865, and the command arrived at 
New Orleans on the 23d, a distance of 1,130 miles in 13 
days. 

4. The transfer by sea, from City Point, Virginia, to 
Texas of the Twenty-fifth Army Corps, 25,000 strong, 

[127] 



WASHINGTON DURING WAR TIME 

with its artillery, ammunition, ambulances, wagons, har- 
ness, subsistence, and 2,000 horses and mules. 

The embarkation took place between May 26 and June 
IT, 18G5, and the debarkation, at Brazos Santiago, be- 
tween June 13 and 26. The movement required a fleet 
of 57 ocean steamers. Entire tonnage — 56,987 tons. All 
of the vessels were provided for a 12-days' voyage — 947 
tons of coal and 50,000 gallons of water were consumed 
daily. 

While this expedition was afloat, other movements by 
sea in steam transports, aggregated more than 10,000 
men, inclusive of 3,000 Confederate prisoners sent from 
Point Lookout to Mobile. Therefore there were more 
than 35,000 troops and prisoners afloat on the ocean at 
the same time. 

5. From November 1, 1863, to October 31, 1864— one 
3^ear — 626,126 men were forwarded to the field, and 268,- 
114 were returned to their homes on furlough and for dis- 
charge ; making the aggregate of the movement 887,240 — 
embracing, independently of recruits, 495 regiments and 
119 batteries and companies. The following year the 
aggregate was 1,064,080, distributed to 1,126 regiments, 
241 batteries, and 369 companies. 

SUPPLYING THE ARMIES. 

The army of General Sherman — embracing 100,000 
men and 60,000 animals — was furnished with supplies 
from a base 360 miles distant by one single-track railroad 
located mainly in the country of an active enemy. The 
effort taxed and measured forethought, energy, patience, 
and watchfulness, and is a most instructive lesson. The 
line was maintained for months, until Atlanta was se- 
cured, and supplies for a new campaign had been placed 
there. The army then moved southeast through Georgia, 

[1281 



THE MILITARY POWER OF THE UNITED STATES 

accompanied by thousands of beef cattle, and trains em- 
bracing 3,000 wagons filled with war supplies. 

After the capture of SaA^annah, the command was 
promptly met at that place by a great fleet, conve^dng 
clothing, tentage, subsistence for soldiers and animals, 
wagons, harness, ammunition, and all else necessary for 
the march or in camp. 

The necessary supplies were again in readiness at Kin- 
ston and Goldsboro through the agency of railroads con- 
structed to Kinston and to Goldsboro from Wilmington 
and Morehead City — each of the two roads from the lat- 
ter places, respectively, being 95 miles in length. 

While the foregoing was being accomplished, other 
large armies in the East and West were as promptly and 
energetically supplied in all their Avants. 

During the fiscal year ending June 30, 1865, the de- 
mands for water transportation required a fleet of 719 
vessels (351 steamers. 111 steam tugs, 89 sail vessels, 168 
barges) aggregating 224,984 tons, at an average daily 
cost of $92,414. 

MILITARY RAILROADS. 

The President, by the Act of January 31, 1862 (Gen- 
eral Order, No. 10, Adjutant General's Office of that 
year), was authorized to take military possession of all 
the railroads in the United States; but it was not found 
necessary to exercise the authority over any of the roads 
outside the limits of insurgent States. 

The military railroad organization (under a Director 
and General Manager — funds for its support being sup- 
plied by the Quartermaster's Department) , Avas designed 
to be a great construction and transportation machine for 
carrying out the objects of the commanding generals so 
far as it was adapted to the purpose, and it was managed 

-. ■ [129] 



WASHINGTON DURING WAR TIME 

solely with a view to efficacy in that direction. It was 
the duty of the Quartermaster's Department to load all 
the material upon the cars, to direct where such material 
should be taken and to whom delivered. It then became 
the province of the railroad department to comply with 
said order in the shortest practicable time, and to perfect 
such arrangements as would enable it to keep the lines 
in repair under any and all circumstances. 

During the war there were employed, 419 engines and 

6,330 cars — 2,105 miles of track Avere operated, G42 miles 

laid, or relaid; and tAventy-six miles of bridges built, or 

rebuilt. 

The greatest number of men employed at the same 
time aggregated 24,904. 

The cost of construction and operating amounted to 
$42,404,142.55. 

The Chattahoochee bridge, 780 feet long and 92 feet 
high, was completely built in 4 1-2 days by GOO men. 

The Etowah bridge, 625 feet long, 75 feet high, Avas 
burned, and was rebuilt by the labor of GOO men of the 
construction corps, in six days. 

In October, 1864, Hood's army reached the rear of 
Sherman's forces, first at Big Shanty, afterwards north 
of Resaca, destroying in the aggregate, 35 1-2 miles of 
track, and 455 lineal feet of bridges. Twenty-five miles 
of track and 230 feet of bridges were reconstructed and 
trains Avere run OA^er the distance in 7 1-2 days. In thir- 
teen days after Hood left the line, trains were running 
OA^er the entire length. 

Numerous other AA^onderful efforts are of record but the 
foregoing are sufficient to illustrate the speed Avith which 
the construction corps operated.' Commanders had "such 
confidence in it, that in adA^ancing they Avere confident 
that the railroads in their rear aa'ouM not fail to meet the 
wants of their commands. This confidence was most im- 

[130] 



THE MILITARY POAVER OF THE UNITED STATES 

portant in connection with lines of operations lengthened 
in depth, and resulted from the knowledge that "none of 
the humanly possible precautions for basing" an army 
had been neglected. 

MILITARY TELEGRAPH. 

Some 15,389 miles Avere constructed during the war, 
involving a total expenditure of $3,219,400. At one time, 
in 1865, 8,334 miles were in operation. From May 1, 
1861, to December 1, 1862, the cost to maintain was $22,- 
000 a month ; during 1863 and 1864 it averaged monthly, 
$38,500 and $93,500, respectively — the total for the year 
ending June 30, 1865, being $1,360,000. 

It may be said that not far from 1,000,000,000 tele- 
grams were transmitted during the war. 

Thousands of messages were very lengthy, some em- 
bracing detailed reports of important operations — all 
generally covered urgent and important subjects. 

The operations were under the charge of a Chief of 
Military Telegraphs — funds for supporting being furn- 
ished by the Quartermaster's Department. 

SUBSISTENCE DEPARTMENT. 

The amount disbursed during the fiscal years of the war 
was as follows: 

From July 1, 1861, to June 30, 1862. . $48,799,521.14 

From July 1, 1862, to June 30, 1863. . 69,537,582.78 

From July 1, 1863, to June 30, 1864. . 98,666,918.50 

From July 1, 1864, to June 30, 1865. . 144,782,969.41 

From Jul} 1, 1865, to June 30, 1866. . 7,518,872.54 



Total $369,305,864.37 

The figures indicate the magnitude of the responsibility 
involved in furnishing "a constant, timely, and adequate 
supply of subsistence for the several large armies occu- 

[131] 



WASHINGTON DURING WAR TIME 

pying widely different fields of operation, as also for the 
troops at all the separate positions occupied throughout 
the entire country." 

Good and wholesome rations were uniformly supplied, 
and no campaign, expedition, or movement failed on ac- 
count of the inability of the department to meet all 
proper requirements. 

MEDICAL DEPARTMENT. 

Ample provision for the sick and wounded existed from 
the first. A maximum of 204 general hospitals, with a 
capacity of 13G,894 beds, was reached. Field hospitals, 
hospital transports and cars, ambulance corps, and pur- 
veying depots were kept in full condition for all require- 
ments. Aside from the vast accommodations elsewhere, 
bherman's army found at Savannah four first-class sea- 
going steamers complete in all respects as hospital trans- 
ports, with extra supplies for 5,000 beds, had it been nec- 
essary to establish large hospitals on his line of opera- 
tions. 

The personnel embraced appointments of 547 surgeons 
and assistants of volunteers; 5,991 regimental surgeons 
and assistants ; 75 acting staff-surgeons ; and 5,532 acting 
assistant surgeons, an aggregate from first to last of 
12,145 medical officers. 

PAY DEPARTMENT. 

From early June to October 31, 1865, the large amount 
of $270,000,000 was paid to more than 800,000 disbanded 
officers and men of the volunteer armies. To October 20, 
1866, the number was increased to $490,000,000 and 1,020,- 
000 officers and men. The labor involved in the payments 
was stupendous. Particularly as to the payments, chiefly 
within the three months of June, July, and August. 1865, 
the immensity of the undertaking, both as to funds and 
men, has not a place in the history of armies. 

[132] 



THE MILITARY POWER OF THE UNITED STATES 

The Government had an abundance of money where- 
with to meet its sacred obligations, and the Pay Depart- 
ment kept its pledge "to make prompt payments in the 
shortest practicable time." 

Brevet Major General Brice, Paymaster General, in 
speaking of the results has said : 

I am enabled to reiterate the unprecedented result, that 
since July, 1861, in the expenditure of one thousand and 
eighty-three millions of dollars disbursed by this depart- 
ment, in minute sums, and surrounded by difficulties and 
hazards, the total cost to the Government in expenses and 
losses of every character, cannot in the worst possible 
event, exceed three-fourths of one per cent. 

Surely this is a cost most wonderfully cheap for the 
execution of duties so important and responsible. 

It is much questioned if there is another instance on 
record of public disbursement so cheaply performed. 

ORDNANCE DEPARTMENT. 

The resources of the country for the production of arms 
and munitions of war had not more than begun their 
development in June, 1863. Then, however, they were 
extensive, as indicated by the following: 



Name of Articles. 



Siege and Sea-coast Artillery.... 

Field Artillerj^ 

Fire-arras for Infantry 

Fire-arms for Cavalry 

Sabres 

Cannon Balls and Shells 

Lead and Lead Bullets, in pounds 

Cartridges for Artillery 

Cartridges for small arms 

Percussion caps 

Friction primers 

Gunpowder, in pounds 

Saltpetre, in pounds 

Accoutrements for Infantry.... 

Accoutrements for Cavalry 

Equipments for Cavalry horses- 
Artillery Harness (double) 



On hand 
at begin- 
ning of 
the War. 


Pro'jured 

since War 

began. 


Issued 

since War 

began. 


1,053 


1,064 


2,088 


231 


2,734 


2,481 


437,433 


1.950.144 


1,551,576 


31268 


338.128 


327,170 


16,933 


337,555 


271,817 


363.591 


2,562,744 


1,745,586 


1,301,766 


71.776,774 


50,0.-)4,5]5 


28,248 


2.738,746 


2 274,490 


8,292,300 


522.204,816 


378,584,104 


19,808 000 


769,475,000 


715,036,470 


83 425 


7,004,709 


6,082.-505 


1,110,584 


13,424,363 


13,071,073 


2,923.348 


5,231,731 


None. 


10,930 


1,831,300 


,680,220 


4,320 


194,466 


196,298 


574 


216,658 


211.670 


586 


18,666 


17,485 



On hand 

for issue 

June 30, 

1863. 

928 

484 

836,001 

42,226 

82.671 

1.180,749 

23.024.025 

492 504 

151,913,012 

74,246,530 

1,005,629 

1,463,874 

8,155,079 

162,010 

2,498 

5.562 

1,767 



[133] 



Washington DtjRiNG war time 

When the war began the Government was forced to 
obtain from foreign countries ahnost the entire suppl}^ 
of arms and munitions, but in 18G3, it became indepen- 
dent, through home resources, both from the manufac- 
tured articles and the material composing them. 

From January 1, 1861, for a period of five and one-half 
years inclusive of the entire war, the department pro- 
vided for the military service — exclusive of immense 
quantities of parts for repairing and other purposes — the 
following : 

7,892 cannons. 
11,787 artillery carriages. 
6,335,295 artillery projectiles (shot and shell). 
6,539,999 pounds of grape and canister shot. 
2,862,177 rounds of fixed artillery ammunition. 
2,477,655 small arms, (musket, rifles, carbines and 
pistols). 
544,475 swords, sabres, and lances. 
2,146,175 complete sets of infantry accoutrements. 
216,371 complete sets of cavalry accoutrements. 
539,544 complete sets of horse equipments. 
28,164 sets of two-horse artillery harness. 
732,526 horse blankets. 
1,022,176,474 cartridges for small arms. 
1,220,555,435 percussion caps for small arms. 
10,281,305 cannon primers. 
4,226,377 fuses for shell. 
26,440,054 pounds of gunpowder. 

6,395,152 pounds of nitre. 
90,416,295 pounds of lead in pigs and bullets. 

CORPS or ENGINEERS. 

Aside from contributing from its members to the com- 
mand of armies the officers of the corps were charged with 

[134] 



^Kte MlLltAftY ^OWJEk OlF titfe tji^tTKD STATES 

important labors in connection with the defenses of 
Washington and other important places; the reconnais- 
sance of positions held by the enemy; the investment of 
cities and towns; the fortifying of important points on 
railroads ; the construction of offensive and defensive for- 
tifications necessary to the march of large armies; the 
manceuvering of pontoon trains; surveys for the armies 
in the field, and the sea coast and lake defenses. 

The ability and efficiency of its officers were notably 




Old War Department Building. 



illustrated in the construction of the pontoon bridge (ex- 
clusive of 200 feet of trestle work) over 2,000 feet long — 
the main part in deep water, in some places 85 feet — 
across the James above Fort Powhatan, by 450 men in 
five hours, between 5 and 10 o'clock p. m., on June 15,. 
1864. Over this single frail structure passed — mainly In 
forty hours— the army, about 100,000 men, under Lieu- 
tenant General Grant, with cavalry, artillft^'v. and infan- 

''135'' 



Washington during was time 

try, and trains embracing about 5,000 wagons, besides 
3,000 beef cattle, without an accident to an individual 
man or animal. This movement, one of the most impor- 
tant on record, took place during the fifth epoch of the 
grand campaign from the Rapidan to the James which 

opened May 4, 18G4. 

« 

SIGNAL SERVICE. 

This valuable adjunct to the Army was composed in 
1865 of 102 officers, 6G acting officers, 84 non-commis- 
sioned officers, and 1,2G6 privates, with labors extending 
to the use of the portable field telegraph lines, aerial tel- 
egraphy, and telescopic reconnaissance. In some depart- 
ments the members performed general scouting, courier, 
guide, aide, and secret-service duties. 

It was particularly valuable in observing and reporting 
the changes and movements of the enemy and connecting 

the Army and Navy when employed in combined opera- 
tions, thus enabling the two branches of the service to 
act as a unit. Oftentimes the services were of vital im- 
portance by furnishing information that could not have 
been had otherwise, notably, as referred to by General 
Sherman, as follows: 

AYlien the enemy had cut our wires and actually made a 
lodgment on our railroad about Big Shanty, the signal 
officers on Vinings Hill, Kenesaw, and Allatoona sent by 
orders to General Corse at Rome, whereby General Corse 
were enabled to reach Allatoona just in time to defend it. 
Had it not been for the services of this corps on that oc- 
casion I am satisfied we would have lost the garrison at 
Allatoona, a most valuable depository of provisions there, 
which was worth to us and the country more than the 
aggregate expense of the whole Signal Corps for one 
year, 

[136] 



TBtE MILITARY POWER OlP TfiE UNITED STATES 

Again, the late Brigadier-General Myer, as Chief Sig- 
nal Officer, has said of the Signal Corps that it : 

Opened the first direct communication from the upper 
with the lower Mississippi when Rear-Admiral Farra- 
gut, running past the batteries of Port Hudson, found 
himself after the perilous passage cut off above that 
fortress from the vessels of his fleet, which could not fol- 
low him and were lying in the stream below. 

There is not, perhaps, on record, a feat of aerial teleg- 
raphy such as that thus and then performed, when from 
the topmast of the flagship of the Admiral, lying above 
the fort, messages were regularly transmitted past the 
guns of the fortress to a station on the top-mast of the 
war vessel Richmond five or six miles below. 



[187] 



The War Hospitals* 



By JOHN WELLS BULKLEY 

Surgeon in charge of Patent Office Hospital. 

N presenting this brief sketch 
of the hospitals of Wash- 
ington and their conduct 
during the period of the 
Civil War, I am prevented, 
because of the limited 
space alloted, from making 
even a passing reference to 
the man}^ scenes of pathos 
and heroic bravery enacted 
within their walls. What 
I am able to give will be, 
therefore, more in the na- 
ture of a summary than an 
attempt to do justice to the 
countless incidents crowded into the four bloody years 
of our civil strife. 

The following list will show the capacity of the gen- 
eral hospitals in this city and vicinity on Necember 17, 
1865: 

No. of beds. No. occupied. 

Armory Square, Washington 1,000 690 

Carver, Washington 1,300 722 

Campbell, Washington 900 633 

Columbian, Washington 844 538 

Douglas, Washington 400 203 

Emory, Washington 900 645 

Finley, Washington 1,061 755 




Dr. J. W. Bulkley. 



[1381 



ftti: ^7Ak Hospitals 

No. of beds. No. oc'cut)Iei4. 

Freedman, Washington 72 72 

Harewood, Washington 2,000 1,207 

Judiciary Square, Washington 510 311 

Kalorama, Washington 434 64 

Lincoln, Washington 2,575 2,012 

Mount Pleasant, "Washington 1,618 898 

Eicord, Washington . . . ." 120 107 

Stanton, Washington 420 266 

Stone, Washington 170 139 

Seminary, Georgetown 121 13 

Augur, near Alexandria 668 403 

Claremont, Alexandria 164 34 

L'Ouverture, Alexandria 717 617 

First Division, Alexandria 753 669 

Second Division, Alexandria 998 856 

Third Division, Alexandria 1,350 1,198 

Fairfax Seminary, Virginia 936 373 

U. S. General, Point Lookout, Md. . . 1,400 450 

21,426 13,865 

After the first battle of Bull Run, the inadequacy of 
hospital accommodations in the District of Columbia 
was clearly apparent. Indeed at the breaking out of the 
war, the Washington Infirmary, then under charge of 
Columbian College, was the only hospital available in the 
District. It was a brick building, three stories high, with 
three white wings, and walls rough-coated, in imitation 
of stone, on E Street, in the rear of the Court House, on 
Judiciary Square. It was erected originally as a jail in 
1804, at least twenty years before work was begun on the 
Court House. Upon the removal of the jail to the "Blue 
Jug" in the northeast corner of Judiciary Square, the 
medical department of Columbian College took up its 
quarters in the Washington Infirmary in the year 1844, 
assuming the name of the National Medical College. 

^ .^ ' [139] . ■ , • 



WASHINGTON DURING WAR TIME 

Wlien the Sixth Massachusetts Regiment was mobbed 
in Baltimore in April, 1861, the wounded of that com- 
mand were taken to this infirmary, which was used as a 
military hospital from that date until it was destro^^ed 
by fire on November 3, 18G1. During the greater part of 
that time Dr. W. J. H. White, an assistant surgeon of the 
United States Arni}^, was in charge. The demands upon 
the hospital, however, soon became so great that addi- 
tional accommodations were required, and shortly after 
the E Street Baj^tist Church was pressed into service as 
an adjunct, with Dr. White in charge. Its use was con- 
tinued until December 26, 1861, when, on the burning of 
the infirmary, the school building in Judiciary Square, 
between F and G Streets, and facing on Fifth Street, was 
opened by Dr. AYliite, and saw service until the follow- 
ing January. It became necessary after the destruction 
of the infirmary to convert the dwelling known as 461 
E Street into a hospital, and its occupancy continued 
until the following January. In order to meet the re- 
quirements of the situation various public buildings were 
made into barracks and hospitals, and even the Capitol 
was used as a huge storehouse for flour and provisions of 
war, as well as for quartering of troops. From Septem- 
ber 20 to November, 1862, Surgeon Edward Shippen, 
U. S. v., conducted a hospital within the marble halls of 
that immense structure. As with the Capitol so was it 
with other public buildings. From time to time soldiers 
had been assigned to the northwest wing of the Patent 
Office building, and then in turn it was made a resting 
place for the sick, wounded, and dying soldiers. Its use 
under the name of the Patent Office Hospital was con- 
tinued from October, 1861, to March, 1863. The sur- 
geons in charge were Drs. John Wells Bulkley, John N. 

[140] 



THE WAR HOSPITALS 

Green, J. C. C. Downing, J. J. Woodward, A. Thompson, 
J. D. Robinson, and G. W. Hoover. 

The churches, too, irrespective of creed, were used for 
similar purposes, among them Ascension (Episcopal), 
then on the south side of H Street, between Ninth and 
Tenth Streets, from July, 1862, to March, 1863, with 
Surgeon J. C. Dorr, U. S. V., in charge; the Methodist 
Episcopal, South, (now a Jewish Synagogue) , on Eighth 
Street, between H and I Streets, N. W., also in charge of 
Dr. Dorr from July, 1862, for several months; Epiphany 
(Episcopal), on G Street, between Thirteenth and Four- 
teenth Streets, from July to December, 1862, in charge 
of Surgeon James Bryan, U. S. V.; and the Unitarian 
Church (now Police Court building. Sixth and D 
Streets) , which then was known as Cranch Hospital, and 
was occupied from August to November, 1862, Edward 
Brooks, Assistant Surgeon, U. S. A., and A. Wynkoop, 
Surgeon, U". S. V., being in charge. Eyland (Methodist 
Episcopal), on Tenth and D Streets, S. W., was simi- 
larly used from July, 1862, to January, 1863, having dur- 
ing that period J. Nichols, V. B. Hubbard, and R. O. 
Abbott in charge. The Union (Methodist Episcopal), 
on Twentieth Street, between Pennsylvania Avenue and 
H Street, was so occupied from July to December, 1862, 
with W. H. Butler, assistant army surgeon, in charge. 
Trinity (Episcopal), on Third and C Streets, N. W., 
from July, 1862, to April, 1863, with G. W. Hatch and 
P. O. Williams, assistant army surgeons, in charge, was 
also used, as well as the Fourth Presb3^terian, on Ninth, 
near G Street, N. W., from July, 1862, to March, 1863; 
and the Presbyterian Church, on Bridge Street, George- 
town, from September 5, 1862, to December, 1862, with 
B. A. Clements and Bolivar Knickerbocker in charofe: 
also Dumbarton (Methodist Episcopal) Georgetown, 

[Ml] 



WASHINGTON DURING WAR TIME 

from October, 18G2, to January, 18G3, with H. L. Burnett 
and A. E. Caruthers in charge; Trinity (Catholic), on 
Lingan Street, Georgetown, from October, 1862, to Janu- 
ary, 1863, with M. F. Bowers, army surgeon, One Hun- 
dred and Thirteenth Pennsylvania Eegiment, and R. O. 
Abbott, surgeon, U. S. A., in charge. Finally the Eben- 
ezer (Methodist Episcopal), now Fourth Street, East 
Washington, from July to December, 1862, with W. E. 
Waters and S. A. H. McKim in charge; Grace (Episco- 
pal), D and Eighth Streets, S. W., from July to Decem- 
ber, 1862, with the surgeons who attended Eyland Hos- 
pital, in charge, and the Thirteenth Street (First) Bap- 
tist (now Builders' Exchange), opened and closed with 
Epiphany. 

Drs. \V. S. Jandt and W. E. AVaters, from July, 1862, 
to March, 1863, conducted a hospital in what was knoAvn 
as Caspari's Hotel, a three-story brick house on A Street, 
between New Jersey Avenue and First Street, S. E. 
After its use for that purpose it was demolished to make 
room for the further extension of the Capitol grounds. • 

In May, 1861, there was opened on First Street, between 
C and D Streets, N. E., a smallpox hospital, or hospital 
for eruptive diseases. Assistant Surgeon K. J. Thomas 
was in charge, and one of the nurses was Mrs. Ada Spur- 
geon. The building Avas a private residence and its 
smallpox and other patients having been removed to the 
Kalorama Hospital, Avards were added to it and its name 
was changed to the C Street Hospital. It was under the 
direction of Dr. T. M. Getty, U. S. A., Avhose successor. 
Dr. A. L. Ingraham, served until August, 1861, when the 
hospital doors were closed. 

The old Kalorama mansion, then in an apparent wil- 
derness, but now in the heart of the fashionable residence 
section of the city, was used as the eruptive fever hos- 

[142] 




The war hospitals 

Surgeons Clements and M. F. Bowers, from September 
to October, 18G2, conducted a hospital in Waters' Ware- 
house, on High Street, below Bridge or M Street, George- 
town. 

The good people of the congregation of St. Aloj^sius 
erected a hospital by that name, in October, 1802. The 
Government had in anticipation the use of the church 
for a hospital, but the congregation, to prevent the con- 
version of the edifice for that purpose, agreed to provide 
suitable quarters instead of the church. The proposi- 
tion proving acceptable to the Government, there was 
erected on North Capitol, K, L, and First Streets, N. ^Y^ 
one of the largest hospitals in Washington. Its op(Mla9 
tions continued for some years after the war. lon- 

Miss English had conducted for some time, at l^Jicf I 
northwest corner of Washington and Gay Streets; 4ilo / 
seminary for young ladies. On June 30, 1861, this buiild4 j 
ing became a hospital and continued to remain so ^^^ 
June 14, 1865. It was successively in charge of Jc^^fet 
R. Smith, assistant surgeon, U. S. A., and Assi^nnt 
Surgeons Josiah F. Kennedy, B. A. Clements, L. W«Jis^ 
and H. W. Ducashet. p i 

Hotels, as well as churches, schools, and private [fc0«y^,. 
dences, opened their doors for the wounded, and Vm&a 
Hospital proper, at the corner of Bridge, or M Sim^U 
and Washington Street, Georgetown, was, in May, 1861, 
converted into a hospital, and so continued until March, 
1863, under the charge of Drs. J. J. Gainslen, A. M. 
McLaren, R. O. Abbott, Josiah F. Kennedy, U. S. A., 
A. M. Clark and G. W. Stipp, U. S. V. 

Many citizens will readily recall the attractive loca- 
tion of Columbian College, now Columbian University, 
on the high grounds of Fourteenth Street, in the neigh- 
borhood of Mount Pleasant. On this commanding site 

10 [145] 



WASHINGTON DURING WAR TIME 

was established on July 14, 1861, the Columbian College 
Hospital, consisting of wooden buildings and tents. Its 
surgeons were Eugene H. Abadie, U. S. A., Thomas C. 
Brainard, W. M. Notson, Charles Page, assistant surgeon, 
U. S. A., and Thomas 11. Crosby, U. S. V. The use of 
the hospital was continued until June, 1805. 

On the beautiful site wdiere now^ stands St. Elizabeth's 
Hosj^ital for the Insane, there was, from December 2, 
18G*J,to December, 18G4, an army hospital known as St. 
Elizabeth's,* occupjdng the then new east wing of the 
main building. Drs. C. H. Nichols, B. M. Stevens and 
E. Griswold, at various intervals, had charo^e of this 
eKBiblishment. 

In June, 1861, Assistant Surgeon J. V. D. Middleton, 

arid in turn Drs. J. J. Porter, J. R. Gibson, G. L. Porter, 

tr. jS. A., and Alfred Delany were caring for the wounded 

>4^fpost hospital known as Washington Barracks, located 

ifclidbe Arsenal. 

! i\l^^ the demands of the war increased, and as its con- 

! trmijfince for an indefinite time became more and more 

j ^l)i«vtent, all varieties of buildings were offered to the 

5 Government for hospitals, and in many instances private 

diweilings were taken for that purpose. This was the 

cttmr^with Desmarre's Eye and Ear Hospital, at the 

doini>ir of Fourteenth Street and Massachusetts Avenue, 

wTiicli lias already been mentioned. 

.Another excellent instance of the use of private dwell- 
ings may l)e foimd in the Douglas Hospital, a handsome 
residence on Second and I Streets N. W. Others also 
were used for the purpose indicated, notably the Stone 
residence,) the home of William J. Stone, opposite the then 
Columbian College grounds. It was opened in April, 
1862, and closed in June, 1865. The surgeons were Drs. 



[146] 



THE WAR HOSPITALS 

B. E. Fryer, P. Glennan, C. A. McCall, and J. D. Rich- 
ards. 

The Douglas Hospital, to which reference has previ- 
ously been made, was under the direction of Surgeon 
Abadie, U. S. A., and, in turn, Assistant Surgeons Warren 
Webster, Peter Pineo, William Thompson, and W. F. 
Morris, controlled its destinies. It was closed in Septem- 
ber, 1865. 

The Circle Hospital was established in September, 
18C)1, and was in use for over a year, in charge of Sur- 
geons L. H. Holden and Henry Bryant. Its location was 
south of Washington Circle, between Twenty-second and 
Twenty-third Streets. 

Surgeons O. O. Judson, C. P. Russell, and P. S. Con- 
ner were in charge of the Carver Hospital, a collection of 
frame wards and tents, in the north corner of the site 
then occupied by the Columbian University. 

In the suburbs, to the w^est of Columbia Road, was the 
Cliffburne Hospital, where John S. Billings, assistant 
surgeon, U. S. A., and Henry Bryant, surgeon, U. S. V., 
attended the wounded and afflicted. 

At no great distance from Cliffburne and on Mount 
Pleasant on the Holmead estate was a hospital of frame 
buildings and tents cared for by the following surgeons: 
Drs. B. E. Fryer, from April to July, 1862 ; C. A. McCall, 
to November, 1864, and Harrison Allen, to August, 1865. 
Mount Pleasant Hospital was in use for three years, from 
April, 1862, to August, 1865. 

The Government erected, a few years before the war, 
for the military companies of the District, a building 
on Sixth and B Streets, S. W., now used by the Fish 
Commission. It was originally designed for the National 
Guard Battalion. The United States Engineer Battalion 
from Willets Point, which took part in the Inauguration 

[147] 



WASHINGTON DURING WAR TIME 

of President Lincoln, occupied this building from time 
to time. 

In 18G2 eight frame wards fronting on Seventh Street, 
were erected, and these, with the buildings, were known 
as the Armory Square Hospital, the whole being under 
the direction of Dr. D. W. Bliss, then a surgeon of a 
Michigan regiment, who afterwards became famous as 
surgeon-in-chief in charge of President Garfield during 
his last illness. Dr. Bliss was succeeded b}^ Dr. C. C. 
Byrne and Dr. C. A. Leale. 

Two of the most commodious hospital structures in the 
District were the Emory Hospital, about one mile east 
of the Capitol, in the vicinity of the Alms House and 
Congressional Cemetery and the Lincoln Hospital, also in 
that neighborhood. 

The former was opened in September, 1862, and con- 
tinued until July, 1865, under the direction of Drs. N. E. 
Moseley, W. Clendenin and W. E. Waters. Lincoln 
Hospital contained twenty-five wards or more, arranged 
en echelon. Upon its opening Surgeon Henry Bryant was 
in charge, and he was succeeded by Dr. G. S. Palmer, 
Harrison Allen, Robert Bartholow, J. Cooper McKee, 
and Webster Lindsley. 

On the farm of W. W. Corcoran, on Seventh Street 
Road, near Soldiers' Home, was located HareAvood, a 
makeshift of frame wards and tents. Its period of ser- 
vice was from September, 1862, to May, 1866, under the 
successive charge of Surgeon F. E. Mitchell, First Mary- 
land Regiment, Dr. Thomas Antisell and Robert E. 
Bontecou. \ 

On Boundary Street, at the northern limit of Fifth 
and Sixth stVeets, N. W., Surgeon Jeddidiah H. Baxter, 
U. S. v., opeiled what was known as the Campbell Hos- 
pital, and continued in charge of it for a year. He was 

[148] 



THE WAR HOSPITALS 



succeeded by Dr. A. F. Selden, U. S. V., who then re- 
mained until the hospital was closed in July, 1865, the 
buildings being transferred to the Bureau of Kefugees, 
Freedmen, etc., and opened as Freedmen's Hospital. 

The square between H and I and Second and Third 
Streets, N. W., Avas occupied by the Stanton Hospital, 
from December, 18G2, to October, 1865: Drs. J. A. Lidell, 
G. A. Miersick, and B. B. Wilson, were the surgeons in 

the order named. 

North of Boundary Street, on the Bladensburg Koad, 
near Kendall Green, were a number of wards, supple- 
mented by office and other buildings, and tents, designated 
as the Finley Hospital, in charge, from July, 1862, to 
1865, of Drs. R. A. Bradley, Jr., and G. L. Pancoast. 

Below are given the buildings used as hospitals m 
Alexandria, with their location: Bayne's residence. 
Water and King Streets; Bellhaven Female Institute, 
Queen and St. Asaph Streets ; Mrs. Beverley's, Washing- 
ton between Oronoco and Princess Streets ; a buildmg on 
Cameron near Water Street; Grace Church, Patrick 
Street; Friends' Meeting House, St. Asaph and Wolfe 
Streets; Methodist Episcopal Church, South; Second 
Presbyterian Church ; St. Paul's Episcopal Church ; Com- 
missary Hospital, Prince Street; Mrs. Daingerfield's, 
Wolfe and Pitt Streets; Female Boarding School, Wash- 
. ington, between Green and Cameron Streets; W. H. 
Fowle's residence; B. Hallowell's residence; J. S. Hallo- 
well's Female Seminary; Rev. J. T. Johnson's, Prince 
Street near Columbus; L'Ouverture, Washington and 
Prince Streets; Lyceum, Washington and Prince Streets; 
Mansion House; McVeigh's residence, St. Asaph and 
Cameron Streets ; and T. B. Robertson's residence, Prmce 
and Columbia Streets. 

I have endeavored to give in brief and condensed form 

[149] 



WASHINGTON DURING WAR TIME 

some of the most important hospitals in operation at 
various periods during the war. Such as have been 
omitted are herewith subjoined: 

There was a United States Army Hospital in the Eck- 
ington or Gales Mansion, on the east side of the Bladens- 
burg Road. 

Among the general hospitals may be enumerated Eben- 
ezer (Ebenezer Church) ; Ricord, same as Desmarre's; 
and Giesboro at Giesboro Point, D. C. 

Among the Post Hospitals were: Camp Stoneman 
(Cavalry depot at Giesboro Point) ; Martindale barracks, 
at intersection of Pennsylvania and New Hampshire 
Avenues and Twenty-third Street, running to Twenty- 
second and I Streets; Rush barracks, in AVhite House 
grounds, south of Executive Mansion ; Reynolds barracks, 
in White House grounds, south of Executive Mansion; 
Camp Fry, same as Martindale barracks; SedgAvick bar- 
racks, between Eighteenth and Nineteenth, M and N 
Streets; Sherburne barracks. First and E Streets, S. E., 
at the intersection of North Carolina and New Jersey 
Avenues; Russell, same as Sherburne; Wisewell, Seventh 
and O Streets, running to P and Q Streets ; Camp Barry, 
artillery camp of instruction, Corcoran Farm, H Street, 
N. E., near the Toll Gate; Camp Ohio Hospital, near 
Tennallytown, D. C. ; Williams barracks, same as Sedg- 
wick barracks; United States barracks. Eighth Street, 
S. E., near Navy Yard ; and Engineer Brigade Hospital, 
I Street, S. E., near Navy Yard. 

As may be readily supposed, during the early part of 
the war the hospital arrangements were anything but 
perfect,butin a comparatively little while, under strict mil- 
itary discipline, places that hitherto had hardly been deem- 
ed possibilities as abodes for the sick and wounded were 
made most accej) table and comfortable for those in need 

[150] 



THE WAR HOSPITALS 

of medical and surgical advice. In a number of instances 
the surgeons encouraged for convalescent patients such 
amusements as would be of beneficial effect to their minds. 
Acting by amateurs of ability, singing and dancing, and 
diversified forms of amusement Avere introduced to help 
13ass away the weary hours of hospital detention. It is 
recalled that at the Campbell Hospital a theatrical party, 
under an actor namel White, gave weekly entertainments 
which were attended by Senators, Representatives, and 
prominent Government dignitaries. Senator Poland, 
Lester Wallaclv, James E. Murdock, and Mrs. Mayo at- 
tended and Avere very complimentary in their comments 
upon the perfornnince and the actors. There were hours 
set aside for the reception of visitors. The hearts of the 
wounded were made glad by fruit, flowers, or reading 
matter, and a number of marriages grcAv out of these sym- 
pathetic visitations. 

The church buildings in use as hospitals, Avith the 
exception of a very fcAv instances, may be easily recog- 
nized, but the barracks have almost altogether disap- 
peared. The hospitals of the latter period of the Avar 
Avere vast improvements over those occupied during the 
early days of the struggle. 

At the inception of the Civil War, AAdien the sick in 
the regimental hospitals exceeded their capacity, resi- 
dences in the neighborhood AA^ere usually turned into hos- 
pitals, and churches, factories and other large buildings 
Avere made into brigade or general hospitals. 

The Medical and Surgical History of the War pre- 
pared under the direction of the Surgeon General of the 
United States Army is a fine exposition of this important 
branch of the military operations of the CiAdl War. 

The first military hospitals opened Avere in AVashing- 
ton. The E Street Infirmary and the Union Hotel both 

[151] 



WASHINGTON DURING WAR TIME 

received patients as early as May, 1861. Owing to the 
large movement of troops the demand for increased ac- 
commodations reached such proportions that it was neces- 
sary to enlarge the quarters of buildings occupied as hos- 
pitals by pitching tents in the immediate vicinity so as 
to form a series of elongated pavilions. At a later period 
the tents were replaced by long Avooden pavilions. The 
best arrangement of these buildings on the ground and 
their design were nuide the subject of much study and 
experiment. Early during the war it was found that 
ridge-ventilated wooden sheds for hospital purjioses re- 
sulted in maintaining a good ventilation without exposing 
the j^atients to draughts. It Avas found impossible to 
construct entirely new buildings in every instance, as the 
necessities of the times demanded that buildings aban- 
doned as barracks should be used for hospital purposes. 
The defects in the construction of these buildings ren- 
dered them undesirable for such purposes, and their 
relative positions one to another constituted another ob- 
jectionable feature. During the winter of 1861-'G2, 
through the efforts of the Sanitary Commission, the 
Government Avas induced to begin the building of hos- 
pitals on the paAdlion plan. The Judiciary Square and 
Mount Pleasant Hospitals were erected in accordance 
with that plan, and finished for occupation in April, 18G2. 
Each of these buildings consisted of an elongated central 
structure, on either side of which and at right angles to it 
were pavilion Avards. In the central structure or corridor 
Avere the bathrooms, Avater closets, Avater sinks, etc., so 
arranged that each Avard Avas connected Avith its oAvn 
conveniences. There Avere tAvo sets of AvindoAvs in each 
Avard. The buildings Avere not ceiled nor plastered. It 
Avas soon recognized that this style of building was a 
failure for several reasons. Gradually the inclosed corri- 

[152] 



THE WAR HOSPITALS 

dor gave place to a covered walk, open at the sides. 
Finally, the plan adopted as the most desirable was the 
erection of detached pavilions, which were to be arranged 
en echelon in tAvo converging lines, forming a V, as was 
done Avith the Harewood and Lincoln Hospitals in this 
city, or as a half circle, or on lines parallel to each other, 
or in such other arrangement as the particular site re- 
quired. 

What I have submitted Avill prove to many unac- 
quainted with the conditions during the Civil War a dry 
presentation of facts. To the old soldier, however, to 
those who, by reason of Avounds or general disability, Avere 
compelled to undergo hospital treatment, the sunnnary 
here giA^en Avill, I believe, be interesting reading, recalling 
A^vidly memorable incidents in their liA^es and many mem- 
ories associated Avith the trying scenes of our civil strife. 




CampbeU General Hospital. 



[153] 



The Humanities of War. 




By WILLIAM JONES IlIIEES 

Archivist of the Smithsonian Institution. 

ATTLES, battle-fields, cap- 
tains, coniinanders, deeds of 
dariii": or endurance are the 
topics mainly treated in this 
memorial of the war, but con- 
sideration is also required of 
another and ecpuilly import- 
ant side of the conflict. 

Many volumes and thou- 
sands of pages of official re- 
ports, biographies, newspaper 
and magazine articles have 
recounted the work of those 
who aided the army by ministrations of love and charity 
and the self-sacrificing devotion of noble men and women 
whose services are equally entitled to honor and recogni- 
tion as those avIio gave themselves in battle to preserve 
the Union and maintain our free republic. 
The "humanities" may be considered as: 
Improvement of the sanitary condition of camps; 
Provision for medical and surgical treatment; 
Aid to the wounded and dying; 

Supplies of necessities and luxuries to camps and hos- 
pitals ; 

Reading matter furnished; 

Material for correspondence and facilities for forward- 
ing mails ; 

[154] 



General E, D. Townsend. 



HUMANITIES OF WAR 

Preaching and religious and other services and per- 
sonal conversation; 

Publication of matter to arouse the sympathies and 
secure contributions from the public ; 

Formation and preservation of sentiments of loyalty to 
the flag and Union; 

Aid to soldiers in securing their claims for compensa- 
tion and pensions from the Government. 

Necessarily many of these functions were performed by 
a number of different agencies and some of them by all, 
so that the recital of the work of the Young Men's Chris- 
tian Association, the Christian Commission, the Sanitary 
Connnission, etc., will be in some sense a repetition. 

The leading features and events of the prominent or- 
ganizations Avill be given, and they will serve to illustrate 
the whole subject. 

On April 12, 18G1, a telegram was sent to the Governors 
of the Northern States that "The war is commenced. The 
batteries [at Charleston] began firing at 4 o'clock this 
morning. Major Anderson [from Fort Sumter] replied, 
and a brisk cannonading commenced." 

This startling intelligence was soon heard through the 
country and the appeal to arms was at once accepted, how- 
ever much it had been deprecated. 

Among the first to respond were the Ringgold Light 
Artillery of Reading, the Logan Guards of Lewistown, 
the Washington Artillery and National Light Infantry 
of Pottsville, and the Allen Rifles of Allentown, Penn- 
sylvania. These companies proceeded to Harrisburg on 
April 16 and were joined on the 18th by a detachment of 
40 Regulars of Company H, Fourth Artillery. The Ave 
companies were mustered into the service of the United 
States, and with the few regulars left Harrisburg at 
9 o'clock on the morning of April 18, the latter proceed- 

[155] 



WASHINGTON DURING WAR TIME 

ing to Fort McHenry. The others arrived in Baltimore 
at 1 o'clock in the afternoon and marched across that 
city, passing through an immense mob of sullen and angry 
men. It is an interesting fact that of these five companies 
of soldiers, only thirty-four men had muskets and there 
was not a single charge of powder. The men placed per- 
cussion caps in their guns and by showing a bold front 
intimidated the crowd who had not then reached the 
decision which led to open violence on the day following. 

At 7 o'clock on the evening of April 18, the head of the 
irrand cohnnn of two million of men Avho were afterward 
nuistered in and marched in their footprints arrived in 
Washington and Avere quartered in the United States 
Capitol building. Here they were furnished with arms, 
ammunition, and equipments, and the work at once begun 
of barricading the Capitol with barrels of cement and 
large sheets of boiler iron. 

As early as March 18, 1861, a resolution Avas adopted 
by the Washington Young Men's Christian Association 
to provide for the distribution of tracts among the regular 
soldiers then in the citv. 

As soon, therefore, as the Pennsylvania volunteers ar- 
rived in April the Association provided them with Testa- 
ments and tracts, appointed a special missionar}^, Kev. 
O. P. Pitcher, to visit them, invited them to call at the 
rooms of the Association, on Pennsylvania Avenue, be- 
tween Sixth and Seventh Streets, and by means of a sys- 
tem of districting the city already established, secured 
attention to every camp and, subsequently, every hospital 
and depot. A special committee was appointed by the 
Association, consisting of Messrs. William J. Rhees, 
Henry Beard, and Nicholas Dubois, to take charge of the 
distribution of secular and religious publications to the 

[156] 



HUMANITIES OF WAR 

army, and this committee engaged heartily in the work 
and continued it during the war. 

A supply of newspapers and other periodicals from all 
parts of the country was procured for the Association 
reading rooms through the liberality of the publishers. 
The exchanges of the Evening Star were freely furnished 
and papers were received from the postmasters of the 
Senate and House of Representatives. 

Arrangements were made with the American Tract 
Societies of Boston and New York, the Massachusetts 
Sabbath School Society of Boston, the Washington Bible 
Society, the Methodist Publishing House, and others, to 
supply books, tracts, and papers for the army. 

A large room (No. 22) was granted in the Post Office 
Department for the deposit and shipment of literature 
and was in charge of Rev. J. W. Alvord, of the Boston 
Tract Society, and Mr. William J. Rhees, of the Wash- 
ington Young Men's Christian Association. 

The defeat of Bull Run on Sunday, Jidy 21, caused 
intense excitement through the country and on the third 
morning after, Mr. Vincent Colyer and Mr. F. W. Bal- 
lard arrived in Washington as delegates from the New 
York Young Men's Christian Association^ They spent 
several weeks with others in inspecting the camps and 
distributing literature. Mr. Colyer's labors were note- 
worthy and gratuitous. He gave up his business and 
devoted himself entirely to the work. 

Other cities sent members to aid in a work which evi- 
dently had grown far beyond the ability of the men in 
Washington to meet. 

A resolution was adopted August 19, 18G1, by the xVsso- 
ciation to welcome the committee of the Young Men's 
Christian Association of New York and the Secretary of 

[157] 



WASHINGTON DURING WAR TIME 

the Evangelical Alliance (Eev. Mr. Boss) to the city and 
to offer them hearty co-operation and assistance in their 
plans and labors for promoting the spiritual and tem- 
poral comfort of the soldiers of our army. 

The Massachusetts Sabbath School Society, besides 
other matter, published six books in small flexible covers, 
called Pocket Companion for Soldiers, also a Soldier's 
Pocket Companion, in six volumes, which its agents and 
the Young Men's Christian Association distributed by the 
thousands free to camps and hospitals. 

The Boston Tract Society published The Knapsack 
Book and a periodical called The Banner. These were 
handsomely printed with patriotic covers in colors, and 
made very attractive, in strong contrast to the old style 
of. religious tracts. When shown to General Scott he 
examined them carefully and said: "Why, these are 
soldiers' books, and these are the things we want. God 
bless you in your work, and if you want any help come 
to me." 

The New York Young Men's Christian Association 
issued a Soldier's Hymn Book in June, 18G1, which had 
an immense circulation. 

The Government gave every facility in the use of the 
mails for the distribution of this army literature. All 
that the military mail-bags would hold, over what was 
required for the letters, were filled with it, and they were 
sent to every part of the army for a single cent. They 
were called Soldier's rations or Gospel rations. 

The entire Army of the Potomac was reached once a 
week with the packages. In every tent, distribution was 
made on Sunday morning. 

During the year 1802 alone 29,745,495 pages were dis- 
tributed, representing a cost of $2G,000. 

[158] : • , 



HUMANITIES OF WAR 

The American Tract Society reported that it dis- 
tributed in Washington alone : 

Bibles 87,232 

Hymn books 1,000 

Library books l.GoO 

Magazines 300 

Religious newspapers 307,459 

Tracts— pages 10,000 

Rev. O. P. Pitcher's work included the distribution of: 
Scriptures in English, German, French, 

Italian, and Spanish 28,177 

Religious papers 155,898 

Books and pamphlets 11,855 

Pages of tracts 1,773,201 

Religious services held 1,498 

Visits, exclusive of meetings 1,181 

Miles traveled 5,240 

These were the labors of one man and in the District of 
Columbia and neighborhood. 

Rev. C. P. Lyford, missionary, of the Washington 
Young Men's Christian Association, reported in March, 
1863, a distribution of 10,000 books and 1,459,520 pages 
of tracts, and that he had held 2G5 services and traveled 
930 miles in six months. 

Besides at the regular camps, services were held and 
books and papers were distributed to teamsters and am- 
bulance drivers in their encampment at the headquarters 
on Twentieth Street; to the quartermaster's men in the 
dining-room of the carpenter's mess-house on G near 
Twenty-first Street; in Nixon's ampitheatre, at Camp 
Barry, northeast of city; at the Soldiers' Rest; and the 
quartermaster's hospital on Seventeenth near M Street. 

[169] . . 



WASHINGTON DURING WAR TIME 

The Washington City Young Men's Christian Associa- 
tion took an active and continuous part in the great work 
for the soldiers of the Republic, rendered especially 
necessary from its location at the Capital, and the large 
numbers of soldiers called for its protection. There were 
more than 200,000 soldiers in Camp Distribution on Arl- 
ington Heights, and 270,000 soldiers occupied the Sol- 
diers' Eest near the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad station 
during a single year. 

A conference of Mr. V. Colyer, Mr. Mitchell H. Miller, 
(the President of the Washington Association) and Mr. 
William Ballantyne resulted in the issuing of a call for a 
special convention of the Young Men's Christian Asso- 
ciation of the United States, which was held in the rooms 
of the New York Association, on November 14-lG, 18G1. 
The delegates from Washington were Richard T. Morsell 
and William Ballantyne, the latter being chosen as a 
secretary of the Convention. A Christian Commission of 
twelve members was then organized with Mr. George H. 
Stuart, of Philadelphia, as chairman, and Mr. Mitchell 
H. Miller, the President of the Washington Young Men's 
Christian Association, as a member. 

The Commission encountered peculiar difficulties in 
Washington. A large portion of the population, espe- 
cially in the earlier stages of the war, was in sympathy 
with the Southern cause and a practical indifference char- 
acterized many others. The sojourners there, always 
numerous, in pursuit mainly of political or personal ends, 
did not care to identify themselves with any benevolent, 
least of all with any religious, movement. That there 
were active Christian workers in all these classes it is 
gratifying to testify, and they increased alike in num- 
bers and activity as the society at the Capital became 
purged of disloyalty. 

[160] 



HUMANITIES OF WAR 



The Commission at first seems to have been regarded 
by the public Avith general indifference. There were 
numerous applicants for favor in the Tract, Publication, 
and Sunday School Societies, the Sanitary Commission, 
and the various local societies that started up all over the 
country which proposed looking after the troops from 
their several States or communities. Opposition and in- 
difference gradually gave way to confidence and aid. 

It was distinctly seen that there was a great opportun- 
ity and necessity for temporal and spiritual ministration 
to the soldiers, and there Avas an earnest Christian and 
patriotic desire to be of service to the army and the nation, 
but there was an absence of that practical knowledge 
which could only come through actual experience. 

While some of the officers of the Army and some Gov- 
ernment officials were indifferent or antagonistic, the 
Commission had the support of the President and many 
of the leading men and gradually overcame all opposition. 

President Lincoln said, in a letter of December 12, 
1861, "Your Christian and benevolent undertaking for the 
benefit of the soldiers is too obviously proper and praise- 
worthv to admit any difference of opinion. I sincerely 
hope your plan may be as successful in execution as it 
is just and generous in conception." 

The Secretary of War, Mr. Stanton, ordered "that 
every facility consistent Avith the exigencies of the ser- 
vice will be afforded to the Christian Commission for the 
performance of their religious and benevolent purposes 
in the armies of the United States, and in the forts, gar- 
risons, camps, and military posts." 

President Lincoln frequently contributed to its funds. 
During the progress of the Avork the Commission received 
from the city of Washington the sum of $25,039.62, and 



11 



[161] 



WASHINGTON DURING WAR TIME 

other donations to the value of $2G,G20, being a total of 
$51,659.62. 

The Government gave encouragement to the Commis- 
sion by free passes on railroads and steamers, and permits 
were issued to its members to visit every part of the army. 

The Commission sent nearly five thousand delegates 
into the field, each one giving at least six weeks' time to 
the arni}^ work without compensation, and its total re- 
ceipts and disbursements during the war reached nearly 
six million dollars. It distributed a million and a half 
Bibles and Testaments and hymn books, thirty-nine mil- 
lion pages of tracts, eight million Knapsack Books, and 
eighteen million papers and magazines. 

Mr. William Ballantyne, who had direct charge of the 
work in Washington, deserves credit for more active and 
efficient religious work for the army in this section than 
any other man. 

The first anniversary of the Christian Commission was 
held on January 29, 18G3, in the Academy of Music, 
Philadelphia. Addresses were delivered by George II. 
Stuart, Rev. Robert Patterson, Bishop MatthcAv Simpson, 
Col. S. INI. Bowman, W. E. Dodge, and former Governor 
James Pollock. 

The second anniA^ersary of the Christian Commission 
was held in the hall of the Plouse of Representatives. 
Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State, presided, 
and President Lincoln, Vice-President Hamlin, and mem- 
bers of the Cabinet, Chief Justice Chase, Admiral Farra- 
gut, and many members of Congress attended. Addresses 
were made by Secretary ScAvard, George IT. Stuart, Gen. 
^I. R. Patrick, Gen. C. B. Fiske, and others. Chaplain 
McCabe sang The Battle Hymn of the Republic, and 
Philip Phillips Your Mission, by special request of Presi- 
dent Lincoln. 

[162] 



a 



(D 

o 

p. 

(D 
to" 

CO 




WASHINGTON DURING WAR TIME 

Both songs thrilled the audience and were accompanied 
with manifestations of extraordinary emotion — the first 
stirring every heart like the blast of a trumpet, and the 
second by its tenderness and pathos suffusing all eyes with 
tears. It was noticed that President Lincoln rose with the 
throng and joined heartily in the chorus of the Battle 
Hymn, and that while Mr. Phillips was singing he shared 
fully in the emotions of those around him. 

As appropriate to this occasion the words of the last 
song are here given. 

YOUR MISSION. 

By Mrs. EUen Huntington Gates. 

If you cannot on the ocean 

Sail among tlie swiftest fleet, 
Rocking on the highest billows, 

Laughing at the storms 3^ou meet; 
You can stand among the sailors, 

Anchor'd yet within the bay. 
You can lend a hand to help tlicm, 

As they launch their boats away. 

If you are too weak to journey 

Up the mountain, steep and high; 
You can stand within the valley, 

While the multitudes go by; 
You can chant in happy measure. 

As they slowly pass along. 
Though they may forget the singer 

They will not forget the song. 

If you have not gold and silver 

Ever ready to command; 
If you cannot towards the needy 

Reach an ever open hand; 
You can visit the afflicted. 

O'er the erring you can weep, 
You can be a true disciple, 

Sitting at the Savior's feet. 

If you cannot, in the harvest. 

Garner up the ricliest sheaves. 
Many a grain, both ripe and golden, 

Will the careless reapers leave; 
Go and glean among the briers. 

Growing rank against the wall. 
For it may be that their shadow 

Hides the heaviest wheat of all. 

[164] 



HUMANITIES OF WAR 

If you cannot in the conflict 

Prove yourself a soldier true, 
If, where fire and smoke are thickest, 

There's no work for you to do; 
When the battlefield is silent 

You can go with careful tread. 
You can bear away the wounded, 

You can cover up the dead. 

i 
Do not, then, stand idly waiting 

For some greater work to do; 
O, improve each passing moment, 

For our moments may be few. 
Go and toil in any vineyard, 

Do not fear to do or dare; 
If you want a field of labor 

You can find it anywhere. 

A meetino' of the Christian Commission Avas held Sun- 
day evening, February 22, 1863, in the hall of the House 
of Representatives by special vote of the House. Chief 
Justice Chase presided and addresses were made by Gen. 
O. O. Howard, Admiral A. H. Foote, Hon. Horace May- 
nard, former Governor J. Pollock, Rev. W. J. R. Taylor, 
Rev. J. T. Duryea, G. H. Stuart, and Joseph Patterson. 

The annual meeting of the Christian Commission was 
held in Washington in the E Street Baptist Church on 
January 26, 1865, and the delegates called on President 
Lincoln and extended their thanks to him for furthering 
their work. 

In response, Mr. Lincoln disclaimed any title to thanks 
for what he had done. "Nor do I know," said he, "that I 
owe you any thanks for what you have done. We have 
all been laboring for a common end. You feel grateful 
for what I have done — that is right; and I certainly 
feel grateful for what you have done — that is right ; and 
yet in the fact that we have been laboring for the same 
end, the preservation of our country and the welfare of 
its defenders, has been our motive and joy and reward." 

The fourth and last anniversary was held on Sunday 
evening, February 11, 1866, in the hall of the House of 

[165] 



J 
WASHINGTON DURING WAR TIME 

Representatives, on which occasion Speaker Colfax pre- 
sided. Letters were read from Secretaries Stanton, 
Seward, and Chase, Generals Grant, Sherman, Meade, 
Howard, Patrick, Hancock, Thomas, Burnside, Butler, 
Ord, Barnes, and ^leigs, and Admiral Farragut. 

Addresses Avere made by Speaker Colfax, Charles De- 
mond. Admiral C. H. Davis, Rev. Herrick Johnson, Sen- 
ator Doolittle, General Augur, Rev. P). AY. Chidlaw, and 
Bishop Simpson. The great feature of the meeting was 
the singing by Philip Phillips, of Your Mission, and a 
new song by LIrs. Ellen Huntington Gates, entitled. 
Home of the Soul. The Hutchinson family, the most 
famous singers of war times, sang two of their songs em- 
bodying the sentiment, "I live for the good I can do," and 
"There's a good time coming." 

The idea of a Sanitary Commission first came to the 
official notice of the Government through a letter written 
in June, 1861, by Dr. R. C. Wood, then acting Surgeon 
General, to the Hon. Simon Cameron, Secretary of AYar. 
In this letter Dr. Wood suggested the appointment of a 
commission of inquiry and advice in respect to the sani- 
tary interests of the United States forces. Such a com- 
mission was made necessary by the pressure which the 
sudden and large increase of the army had imposed upon 
the Medical Bureau. It was not intended to interfere 
with the existing medical organization of the army, but 
to co-operate with and strengthen it. 

The Commission was organized on June IG, 18G1, with 
the following officers: Rev. Henry W. Bellows, president; 
Alexander Dallas Bache, vice-jDresident ; George Temple- 
ton Strong, treasurer; Dr. J. Foster Jenkins, secretary; 
and Drs. J. S. Newberry, J. N. Douglas, and F. N. Knapp, 
associate secretaries. The standing committee met quar- 
terly in Washington, but daily in New Y^ork City. 

[166] 



HUMANITIES OF WAR 

The first business was to improve the sanitary condi- 
tion of camps, quarters, hospitals, and men, all of whom 
were sadly in need of such attention. There was for a 
time well-grounded fear of epidemics breaking out in 
many of the camps on account of the inefficiency of in- 
experienced officers and the general neglect of sanitary 
measures and precautions. A visible improvement was 
soon exhibited. 

No military resources, however well directed, could 
adequately provide relief for the thousands of brave men 
who were sinking under the fatigue and privations of the 
march or stricken down in fields of battle. 

In this emergency the noble, heaven -prompted associa- 
tions of the Christian and Sanitary Commissions offered 
the channels through which the oil and wine of soothing 
kindness and strengthening cheer flowed from the plenty 
of homes to the need of the sick and wounded. 

As the war advanced other duties devolved upon the 
Sanitary Commission. The Government was doing all 
that was possible but this was not enough to satisfy the 
people. They wished to supply the soldiers who were 
their sons, brothers, fathers or kinsmen with as many of 
their home comforts and home attentions as could possi- 
bly be engrafted upon army life. With this view they 
sent large quantities of food, fruit, delicacies, and appli- 
ances for the sick and wounded, much of which had been 
spoiled by remaining undelivered in the depots or store- 
houses for want of adequate and organized means of dis- 
tribution. The means of correspondence and the furnish- 
ing of reading matter were also prominent features of the 
work of the Commission. 

Mention should be made of the Nurses' Homes in 
Washington. 

These homes proved a source of immense relief to 

[167] 



WASHINGTON DURING WAR TIME 

nurses arriving in the city or to those worn down by 
service at the hospitals and needed a few days of quiet 
and rest, as well as to wives and mothers of soldiers who 
were seeking their husbands and sons in hospitals. Many 
of these arriving in the city were ignorant of the cost of 
the journey and of board even for a day or two, and 
weary and almost broken-hearted, were cared for at these 
homes. A number of refugees also, mothers and children, 
were received, warmed, and clothed. 

The Sanitary Commission also established a Free Pen- 
sion Agency, which was of great value, saving the soldiers 
immense trouble and expense. 

Of the splendid work done by the Commission at the 
close of m.any battles when medical supplies could not be 
had through the regular channels it has been well said : 

The pangs of consuming thirst and raging fever there 
alleviated, the agonizing pains relieved, the tender and 
home-like nursing extended, what pen can do justice to 
them — who can estimate the priceless relief thus admin- 
istered ! 

From 18G1 to 18GG the Sanitary Commission distributed 
stores and supplies amounting in value to five and a half 
million dollars. It accomplished innumerable reforms in 
the medical service, published large numbers of treatises 
on the sources of sickness in armies and the means of 
avoiding and treating them, trained a large corps of 
skilled nurses and attendants, and distributed annually 
tons of reading matter. 

While the Christian Commission and the Sanitary 
Commission engaged in some respects in the same work, 
yet each had its special vield and each was necessarily 
supplemental to each other. Neither could have been 
spared, and both merited and received the heartfelt grat- 
itude of the army and the people. 

[1681 



HUMANITIES OF WAR 

It is not to be inferred for a moment that the recital 
of the work rendered by volunteer associations should 
cause forget fulness or Avant of full appreciation of the 
devoted and self-sacrficing and untiring labors of mem- 
bers of the Medical Department of the United States 
Army nor of hundreds of officers in every branch of the 
service. The number of cases treated in the Army Hos- 
pitals was 5,825,480, and the number of deaths was 393,- 
504. 

Special mention must be made of Miss Dorothea 
Lynde Dix, "who stands in history as the most eminent 
philanthropist of modern times." Her biographer, 
Francis Tiffany, describes her as "the founder of vast 
and enduring institutions of mercy in America and 
Europe, having simply no peer in the annals of Protes- 
tantism." 

Early in 18G1 she had communicated the results of a 
recent visit in the South in behalf of her great schemes 
for ameliorating the condition of the insane to her friend, 
Mr. S. M. Felton, president of the Philadelphia and Bal- 
timore railroad, and warned him of a great conspiracy to 
seize upon Washington, with its archives and records, 
and then declare the Southern Confederacy de facto the 
government of the United States. At the same time all 
means of communication were to be cut off between Wash- 
ington and the Northern States. 

As soon therefore as the attack was made on the troops 
hastening through Baltimore to the defense of Washing- 
ton and the railroads had been partially destroyed, Mr. 
Felton by a masterly move seized all the steamboats on 
the Chesapeake and had them in readiness for the second 
detachment of the Massachusetts troops. While all was 
still in tumult and only three hours after the massacre 

[169] 



WASHINGTON DURING WAR TIME 

in Baltimore, Miss Dix boarded the last train that was 
permitted to leave for Washington. 

She reported herself, though about sixty years old, on 
April 20, at the War Department and to the Surgeon 
General for free service as a volunteer nurse. She was at 
once appointed by the order of Secretary Cameron as 
superintendent of women nurses "to select and assign wo- 
men nurses to general or permanent military hospitals, 
they not to be employed in such hospitals without her 
sanction and approval except in cases of urgent need." 

Without waiting for the Government in its distracted 
state. Miss Dix provided her own means of operation by 
laying upon her country's altar not only herself but her 
fortune. At her own expense she hired two houses in 
Washington to be used as headquarters for nurses and 
convalescent soldiers, as well as for depositories of sup- 
plies for which she at once appealed to the people. 

Up to the time of the Civil War the United States had 
maintained an army of but 20,000 to 25,000 men, and no 
mind in the country had ever coped with the problem of 
dealing with the medical care of large forces. No agency 
it was soon found, short of powerful organizations like 
the Christian and Sanitary Commissions, with their im- 
mense sums of money, enormous stores of supplies and 
active, competent and devoted workers could supply the 
need. Miss Dix applied herself unremittingly to the task 
assigned her, and during the four long years of the war 
she never took a day's furlough. Untiringly did she re- 
main at her post, organizing bands of nurses, forwarding 
supplies, inspecting hospitals, and in many a case of neg- 
lect or abuse making her name and presence a salutary ter- 
ror. By her rigid ideas of honesty, and faithful discharge 
of duty, and insistence on proper administration, she ex- 
cited opposition from many surgeons and even nurses. 
She had, however, the sturdy and untiring support of the 

[170] 



HUMANITIES OF WAR 

Secretary of War, Mr. Stanton. Unpopularity reaped in 
doing duty at all risks Avas a commendation in his eyes 
rather than a reproach. 

So hio'h was the sense of the country's indebtedness to 
this woman who had been first on the ground and last to 
quit the post of duty, that at the close of the war she was 
asked in what shape it would be most agreeable to her 
to have her services officially recognized. 

A great public meeting jDresided over by the highest 
officials or a vote of money from Congress were proposed. 
These she absolutely declined and to the queiy: ''What 
then would you like," responded : ''The flags of my coun- 
try." 

A beautiful pair of national colors were specially made 
by the Government and sent to her. 

In acknowledging this gift, Miss Dix said : "No more 
precious gift could have been bestowed and no possession 
will be so prized while life remains to love and serve my 
country." 

It is impossible to describe the labors of the Govern- 
ment and of individuals for the contrabands or Freemen, 
which included physical relief, temporary homes and 
schools, and religious instruction. 

There were in the arm}^ which assembled in Washing- 
ton many devoted, intelligent chaplains and these formed 
a Chaplain's Association which met weekly and co-oper- 
ated with the Young Men's Christian Association workers 
in Washington. 

In 18G1 no chaplains had been provided for hospitals. 
Two wealthy ladies of New York, the Misses Woolsey, 
residing in Washington, offered to pay the salary of a 
chaplain for the hospitals in Alexandria, Virginia. They 
did this, and also used their private carriage to carry 
stores to the hospitals. 

As many church buildings were occupied as Govern- 

[171] 



WASHINGTON DURING WAR TIME 

ment hospitals, the members of these churches made spe- 
cial efforts to relieve the suffering Avithin their reach, and 
these labors were unrecorded and yet formed a great ag- 
gregate which, with those of members of the Masonic fra- 
ternity, Odd Fellows, and similar organizations, should 
be taken into account in describing the charities of the 
citizens of Washington. 

Special mention must be made of Walt Whitman, whose 
noble work is so Avell known to the soldiers. 

The citizens of Washington contributed liberally to 
those benevolent and patriotic organizations, and in every 
way aided in the relief of the sick and wounded, and the 
cheer and comfort of the afflicted. 

This brief sketch of the work will, it is hoped, be accept- 
ed as a faint tribute to the labors of the noble men and 
women wliose services, though not rendered on the battle- 
field as combatants, were truly Soldiers of the Cross and 
carried consolation and succor, hope, and loving minis- 
tration to the Grand Army of the Republic. 











View of Military Asylum, now Soldiers' Home. 



[172] 



Arlington and Battlefield Cemeteries. 

BY ISABEL WORRELL BALL 

f Ohalnncm, Press Committee, Thiy^fy -sixth National En- 
campment 




General Irvin McDowell. 



N the Virginia hills, with the 
placid Potomac below, where 
the shadow of the Capitol's 
white dome falls athwart the 
shimmering waters and the 
Monument like a grim sen- 
tinel is ever on duty at the 
gateway, lies Arlington, the 
National City of the Dead, 
w^here sleep nearly 19,000 "sol- 
diers of the Union, mustered 
out." 

It was the great war governor of Pennsylvania, Andrew 
G. Curtin, who suggested that National interment of the 
Nation's heroes would be but simple justice to those who 
died in the Nation's defense. It was on the soil of Penn- 
sylvania that the first shrine to the dead of a war fought 
in National defense was dedicated. At Gettysburg, on 
November 19, 1863, this first dedication occurred and the 
tribute to the battlefield dead and the Union soldiers, paid 
by President Lincoln, is read each recurring Memorial 
Day in every cemetery in the world wh^re a soldier of the 
Union sleeps. 

Standing on the yet battle-roughened spot, with the 
Catoctin mountains for his western horizon, and the 

[173] 



WASHINGTON DURING WAR TIME 

Round Tops limned against the Southern sky, President 
Lincoln saw the great panorama of nearly three years 
spread out before him, and at his feet the graves of 3,000 
men who had '^fought the fight and kept the faith." A 
pitiful handful of the thousands and thousands sacrificed 
in the war whose end was not yet in sight. His great 
heart was heavy Avith the woe of it all, and in homely 
l^athos he gave utterance to words which have been print- 
ed in nearly every tongue and pronounced under every 
sky where patriotism and true valor are cherished. Words 
that have long been accepted as the purest example of 
English expression extant. In his clear voice which suf- 
fering had softened, he said: 

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought 
forth upon this continent a new Nation conceived in lib- 
erty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are 
created equal. Noav we are engaged in a great Civil War 
testing whether that Nation or any Nation so conceived 
and so dedicated, can lornj; endure. We are met on a o-reat 
battlefield of that Avar. We liaA^e come to dedicate a por- 
tion of that field as a final resting-place for those Avho 
here gaA^e their Hacs that that Nation miglit live. It is 
altogether fitting and proper that Ave should do this. 

But, in a larger sense, Ave cannot dedicate, Ave cannot 
consecrate, Ave caimot hnlloAv this ground. The braA^e 
men, living and dead, Avho struggled here, have conse- 
crated it far aboAx our poor poAver to add or detract. The 
Avorld Avill little note nor long remember Avhat Ave sa}^ 
here; but it can ncA^er forget Avhat they did here. It is 
for us the living, rather, to bs dedicated here to the unfin- 
ished Avork Avhich they Avho fought here, have thus far so 
nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated 
to the great task remaining before us — that from these 
honored dead Ave take increased devotion to that cause for 
Avhicli thev ffaA^e the last full measure of dcA^otion : that 
Ave here highly resoh-e that these dead shall not haA^e died 
in A^ain; that this Nation under God shall haA^e a ncAV 

[174] 



ARLINGTON BATTLEFIEIiD CEMETERIES 

birth of freedom ; and that the government of the people, 
by the j^eople, for the people, shall not perish from the 
earth. 

And they have not "died in vain," for like Moslems to 

Mecca, journey the people to these ''battle cemeteries," 

there to learn new lessons in patriotism while the example 

of "these honored dead" inspires increased devotion to the 

principles for which they gave up their lives. 

Of the eighty-three National cemeteries, Arlington is 
the most beautiful and the best known. Much that has 
been said about the acquisition of Arlington by the Gov- 
ernment is not true. It never belonged to George Wash- 
ington nor to Robert E. Lee. It was not confiscated by 
the Government. The United States bought Arlington 
estate, pajdng for it nearly six times as much as its broad 
acres had ever been declared to be worth ])v the assessor. 

Arlington has had but few owners and the title to the 
estate is easy to trace. One year less than forty after the 
Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock, the 1,100 acres in 
Fairfax, Virginia, Avere granted under a patent of Sir 
William Berkeley, Governor of Virginia, to Robert PIoav- 
ser, Avho named the estate for the Earl of Arlington. Its 
next OAvners Avere the Alexanders. From them it Avas pur- 
chased by John Parke Custis, the son of Martha Washing- 
ton by her first husband. The head of the American Cus- 
tis family Avas an immigrant inn-keeper, formerly of Rot- 
terdam, Holland. 

John Parke Custis, at his death, devised the estate to 
his son, George Washington Parke Custis. This Avas the 
boy Avho grcAv up at Blount Vernon. He died in 1857, 
and by Avill devised Arlington to his only child, Mary Ann 
Randolph Custis, Avho Avas married to Robert E. Lee, she 
to enjoy the estate during her life. At her death the 
plantation Avas to become the property of her son, George 

[175] 



WASHINGTON DURING AVAR TIME 

Washington Custis Lee, provided he took the name Cus- 
tis and dropped the name of Lee. lie was also to adopt 
the Custis arms. He never did either, and had to invoke 
the aid of the courts to give him a clear title to the vast 
estates of his grandfather, long after the war, and after 
the death of his mother, the wife of Robert E. Lee. 

On April 20, 18G1, Robert E. Lee resigned his commis- 
sion as Colonel in the United States Army, and on April 
22, 1861, with his wife, children, and most of his ser- 
vants, left Arlington for Richmond. On April 23, Lee 
became commander-in-chief of the Virginia forces of 
the Confederate arm}^ The Lees thus practically aban- 
doned Arlington, to Avhich they never returned, nor did 
they make the slightest attempt to assert ownership dur- 
ing the life of Mrs. Lee. 

In 18G1, Congress, to provide revenue for the Govern- 
ment, passed an act levying a direct tax apportioned 
among the States severally. In June, 1862, a hiAV was 
enacted providing for the collection of this tax in insur- 
rectionary districts, and all tracts and parcels of land 
upon which the owners failed or refused to pay this tax, 
were to be sold in about the same manner as proj^erty is 
sold today for delinquent taxes. This act also provided 
that at such sale of land, by direction of the President, 
it miHit be bid in bv the tax sale commissioners for the 
United States to be used for war, military, naval, revenue, 
charitable, or police purposes. 

Virii'inia's share in this direct tax was somethinc; over 
$900,000. Arlington Heights formed a great strategical 
l)oint in the defense of Washington, and three days after 
the Lees left the place, the first Union troops began to 
arrive in Washington. Beyond the Long Bridge and on 
Arlington Heights the first camp-fires of the War of the 
Rebellion were kindled not to be extiniruished till Lee 



'to' 



[176] 



ARLINGTON BATTLEFIELD CEMETERIES 

laid down his sword at Appomattox. On the hills under 
the trees a tented town sprang up, whose streets wer^ 
patrolled by men in Union blue. 

Two forts were located on the estate. Fort Whipple, 
now known as Fort Myer, and Fort McPherson, an earth- 
work, which has recently been restored to its war-time 
form. These were a part of the system of forts and bat- 
teries designed for the protection of Washington. 

The Surgeon's staff of the hospital corps was finally 
established at Arlington, and long lines of hospital tents 
stretched away under the dim aisles of oaks and elms, 
sheltering the victims of war's awful havoc. The big 
colonial mansion with its huge stuccoed pillars then 
housed the commanding officers. 

Virginia having failed to pay her personal tax as pro- 
vided by law, the United States, on January 11, 1864, 
proceeded to sell many parcels of land. Under recom- 
mendation of the Secretary of War and approved by the 
President, the Arlington estate was put up at public auc- 
tion, after long advertisement in the Virginia papers. Very 
few were interested enough to bid upon it, and the United 
States being the highest bidder; got it for $26,000. The 
estate had been assessed in 1860 at a valuation of $34,000. 

Arlington was by this time one vast hospital. 

At the breaking out of the war there was but one mili- 
tary cemetery in the District of Columbia, and that was 
at the Soldiers' Home. Over 8,000 soldiers who had died 
in the hospitals in and around Washington had been 
buried in this cemetery, and in May, 1864, all permits for 
burial there were refused, the space being filled. The 
deaths from wounds and disease in the vicinity of Wash- 
ington reached half a hundred a day, and it was neces- 
sary to locate another cemetery at once. 

On May 13j 1864, President Linogln, as was his wont, 



WASHINGTON DURING WAR TIME 

left the A'^^iite House in his carriage to visit the hospitals 
where his "boys" were confined, and took with him Gen- 
eral M. C. Meigs, who was then Quartermaster General 
of the United States Army. Their last visit of the after- 
noon was to Arlington. Here they found tAvelve bodies 
waiting to be carried to the military cemetery at the Sol- 
diers' Home, where there was no ground in which to bury 
them. On the spur of the moment. General Meigs order- 
ed all the bodies awaiting burial to be interred on the 
grounds at once, and he designated the spot near the gar- 
dens of the Mansion House, Avhere the interment was to 
be made. 

Just as the sun was sinking in a red glow which irradi- 
ated the great unfinished dome across the Potomac and 
illuminated the hundreds of windows, the twelve black 
painted coffins were placed beside twelve little mounds of 
clay, and a chaplain read the burial service over each. 
Then the bodies were lowered into the graves, and the 
first interments in Arlington National Cemetery had been 
made. The first body of the twelve over which the bur- 
ial service was read as shown by the records was that of 
a rebel prisoner who died in Arlington hospital. The 
next body was that of a New York soldier. There now 
sleep beside him nearly 10,000 Avearers of the blue. 

In May, 1877, twelve years after the war closed, George 
"Washington Custis Lee, who had never complied with 
the conditions of his grandfather's will by which he was 
to inherit Arlington, provided he took the name of Cus- 
tis, dropping that of Lee, and took also the Custis arms, 
brought suit in the courts to legalize his title without 
this formality, and then brought suit against the United 
States for the value of the estate. After many years of 
litigation, the United States secured a clear title to the 
Arlington estate of 1,100 acres by paying George Wash- 

[178] 



ARLINGTON BATTLEFIELD CEMETERIES 

ington Custis Lee the sum of $150,000, making $176,000 
that had been paid for an estate which one year before 
the war had been vakied by its owners at $34,000. 

This N^ational Necropolis is one of the famous places 
of the world. Nature has done her best for the beautiful 
spot, and art has not attempted to paint the lily. A stone 
wall, most of it hidden under clinging vines, surrounds 
the cemetery and on the river side it is entered by three 
historic gateways. The first is the Ord and Weitzel gate. 
Two tall columns bearing the names are over-arched and 
surmounted by a funeral urn. The second gate has four 
great columns of stone supporting a moulded cross piece 
of granite. The name Sheridan in bold relief on this 
cross piece gives the gate its title. It has also four col- 
umns which bear the names of Lincoln, Scott, Stanton, 
and Grant. The third gate is named for McClellan. The 
material of which these gates are constructed was taken 
from the old War Department Avhich was torn down to 
make place for the present magnificent structure, and 
the columns were among the adornments of that historic 
structure. From these gates through primeval forests, 
over deep ravines and along hills for nearly a mile, road- 
ways wind up to the Mansion, to the open ground about 
the building and the smooth sward and asphalted drives 
and walks. 

No change has been made in the Mansion since it was 
built nearly a century ago. One half is occupied by the 
superintendent of the grounds, and the other half is 
given over to bare floors and the walls to official maps. 
Into the walls of the great central hall are let large tab- 
lets of black marble bearing in letters of white, Lincoln's 
Gettysburg address, and Ingersoll's famous Memorial 
Day oration. 

The grounds about the Mansion are laid out in floral 

[179] 



WASHINGTON DURING WAR TIME 

corps badges, and the names of famous generals are 
formed in growing plants. A small white Temple of 
Fame stands in the midst of these, bearing upon its snow 
white columns the names of Lincoln, Grant, David Por- 
ter, Farragut, McPherson, Sedgwick, Reynolds, Humph- 
reys, Garfield, Mansfield, Thomas, Meade, Washington. A 
short distance away is the amphitheater where Memorial 
Day exercises are held. Picturesque and classic in out- 
lines this vine-involved temple of oratory might have 
been plucked from ancient Greece. 

In between these, under stately trees that lift their 
heads a hundred feet into the sky, stands the Tomb of 
the Unknown Dead — just a grim pile of rough hewn 
granite and marble, standing four square to the world, 
and housing the remains of 2,111 dead, who "to fortune 
and to fame unknown," their very names forgotten, sleep 
the sleep of heroes. From Chantilly to the Rappahan- 
nock the bodies were gathered. They were found in 
lonely fence corners, under tangled thickets, by running 
streams, in the deep forest. Sometimes there were only 
a few bones and a belt buckle left to identify the remains, 
but wherever they were unearthed, the poor fragments 
were gathered in small plain boxes of uniform size, each 
skeleton to itself. A great vault, thirty feet deep and 
two hundred feet square, was constructed of solid mason- 
ry where the monument now stands, and here the 2,111 
boxes were deposited. Above this vault there was con- 
structed, in 1876, the massive memorial sarcophagus. It 
bears the simple inscription : 

Here lies the bones of 2,111 unknown soldiers. Their 
remains could not be identified, but their names and 
deaths are recorded in the archives of their country, and 
its grateful citizens honor them as of their noble army 
of martyrs. May they rest in peace. 

The graves in Arlington, as m all the National Ceme* 

[180] 






o 

n 

en? 

CD 




WASHINGTON DURING WAR TIME 

teries, were at first marked with a wooden slab bearing 
the name, service and date of death. In 1872 the Quar- 
termaster General decided to mark them all with small 
marble slabs, suitably inscribed, and this has been done. 
There are about 18,000 of these small headstones in Ar- 
lington, but there are nearly four thousand of these that 
are very small indeed. They have upon them the single 
word, "Unknown" ! 

Among the noted dead who sleep in Arlington are 
Sheridan, Porter, Farragut, Wright, Crook, Ricketts, 
Hazen, Mj^ers, Baxter, Mower, Sturgis, Harney, Paul, 
Meigs, Belknap, Plummer, and manj^ others. In one 
section cared for as tenderly as any other, sleep several 
hundred Confederates, who died in the hospitals about 
Washington. One whole section is given over to colored 
soldiers, and one plot contains the remains of several sol- 
diers of earlier wars, reinterred there in 1889. In the 
Spanish War section, there are nearly 1,000 graves. Scat- 
tered about the grounds are the tombs and crumbling 
headstones of the former owners, the Randolphs, Cus- 
tises, and Lees. 

Under the trees and along the paths beside which these 
heroes sleep there are tablets of bronze, bearing in white 
letters, the following verses from the great elegaic poem 
of Colonel Theodore O'Hara, which will tell through cen- 
turies to come of the tender memories that clustered about 
the last resting places of the battlefield dead : 

The muffled drum's sad roU has beat 

The soldier's last tattoo; 
No more on Life's parade shall meet 

That brave and fallen few. 

On Fame's eternal camping- ground 

Their silent tents are spread, 
And Glory guards with solemn round 

The bivouac of the dead. 



[182] 



ARLINGTON BATTLEFIELD CEMETERIES 

No rumor of the foe's advance 

Now swells upon the w^ind; 
No troubled thought at midnig-ht haunts 

Of loved ones left behind. 

No vision of the morning's strife 

The "warrior's dream alarms; 
No braying horn nor screaming fife 

At dawn sliall call to arms. 

The neighing troop, the flashing blade, 

The bugle's stirring blast; 
The charge, the dreadful connonade, 
The din and shout are past. 

Rest on, embalmed and sainted dead, 

Dear as the blood ye gave; 
No impious footstep here shall tread 

The herbage of your grave. 

Nor shall your glories be forgot 

While fame her record keeps, 
Or honor points the hallowed spot 

Where valor proudly sleeps. 

Nor wreck, nor change, nor winter's blight. 

Nor Time's remorseless doom. 
Shall dim one ray of holy light 

That gilds your glorious tomb. 

These same lines are found in each of the eighty-three 
National Cemeteries. 

There are many beautiful cemeteries in Washington 
where thousands of soldiers sleep, but the}^ are not Na- 
tional in character, and are not cared for by the National 
Government. The Military Cemetery at the Soldiers' 
Home, is maintained by a percentage of the monthly pay 
of retired regulars in the Home. 

The National Cemetery at Alexandria contains four 
acres, and in it are buried the remains of o,G60 Union 
soldiers, from the hospitals and battlefields of the vicin- 
ity. It is a beautiful tree-shaded spot, but no notable 
graves are there. In the center stands a fine monument 
to the four citizen firemen of Alexandria, who lost their 
lives in a collision on the Potomac while in pursuit of 
the assassin Booth, on April 24, 1865. 

[183] 



WAlSitlK^GTON DURING WAR TIME 

One of the smallest of the National cemeteries, and 
the only one located in the District of Columbia, proper, 
is Battlefield Cemetery, near Fort Stevens. Forty Union 
dead are there interred. Where they lie in Ioav green 
tents, cannon once thundered ansAvering the tread of 
thousands of marching men. Where the flowers now bloom 
about them, bullets once lay like pebbles along the path- 
way and blood reddened the powder-burned herbage. On 
the spot where these bodies lie surged the Union and 
Rebel armies under the eves of President Lincoln in a 
mighty struggle for the possession of Washington. When 
the tide of battle rolled back. Early was vanquished and 
the Nation's Capital was saved. 

Earth ma^^ run red with other wars — they are at peace. 
In the midst of battle, in the roar of conflict, they found 
the serenity of death. 



\- 



X 



\ 




*"^^ 



Arlington House. 



[184] 



Political and Social ConditionsBuring the War 



BY BEAINAPvD H. AVAR^^EE 

Chairman of the Thirty-Sixth National Encampment 



EFORE the Civil War AVash- 
ington was in many respects 
but little more than a country 
village. Yet for more than 
half a century it had been tha 
chief center of political excite- 
ment in the United States. The 
question of slavery had long 
been the principal cause of 
contention between different 
sections of the Union. The in- 
creasing power of the North 




Secretary Holt. 



and West was regarded with apprehension by the South, 
largely in consequence of the constant and continued agi- 
tatfon" of extremists, who denounced human bondage of 

every kind. 

Inducements for travel were not so great as now. lour- 
ists from the Northern States felt they would not be 
welcome in the South and would be viewed with sus- 
picion. Thev preferred to avoid the slave section, where 
every propertv-owner felt it his bounden duty to prevent 
the circulation of the pronounced anti-slavery journals. 

Southern people looked upon Northern men as unfair 
and extreme and as having designs upon the fortunes 
and prosperity of their political antagonists. In their 
eyes John Brown was only a representative of a large 

[185] 



WA.?HIKGT0N DURING WAR TIME 

class, who would hesitate at nothing to gain a fixed pur- 
pose. Moreover, the people of the South who had time 
and means for travel were glad to spend their leisure 
among their own fellow citizens at the various resorts 
where they could find pastimes suited to their tastes, 
where mint juleps and toddies were popular and the race- 
course and tournaments were favorite sources of pleas- 
ure. 

A large proportion of those who lived in the Southern 
States were both religious and refined, although a belief 
prevailed in the North that the South was generally a 
place of ease and profligacy and that its inhabitants were 
largel}^ given over to card-playing and drinking. Duels 
were of frequent occurrence. It was an open and con- 
stant boast that one Southern man accustomed to hunt- 
ing and shooting was more than a match for four Yan- 
kees; and the latter were said to be cowardly and unwil- 
ling to fight for their rights. This was currently believed 
in the South. 

Thus it will be seen readily that each section of the 
Union persistently misunderstood the other. The atti- 
tude of the South, however, proved to be the more sig- 
nificant. The balance of influence in Congress had been 
held from the foundation of the Union b}^ representatives 
from Southern States; it was only natural, then, that the 
growth of other sections inimical to their institutions 
should provoke their leaders to prepare for a conflict of 
interests. 

To this end the people of the South had been gather- 
ing resources for defense for some time prior to 18G1. 
Of these resources, of the war assets of the South, of its 
capacity for self-sacrifice, the North had no accurate con- 
ception. Northerners little understood the character 



186] 






O 

CK5 



3 



O 




WASHINGTON DURING WAR TIME 

dant support. Public patronage for years before the war 
had been given largely to representatives from the South- 
which the strain of subsequent events was to make mani- 
fest. 

ern States, who naturally sympathized with slavery and 
its institutions. The chiefs of many important bureaus 

In AVashington this position of the South found abun- 
freely expressed their hope for the success of a secession 
movement, should one be undertaken. When Sinnter was 
fired on, therefore, and steps taken to establish a separate 
government, many residents of the National Capital left 
the city hurriedly and openly cast their fortunes with the 
South. Frier dships of a lifetime were disrupted, l^roth- 
ers, sisters, parents and children, sweethearts and lovers, 
and even man and wife, were frequently divided in their 
allegiance to the cause of the Union. 

Although many of the prominent leaders were hostile 
to the National Government, the great majority of the 
people in the District of Columbia were opposed to seces- 
sion. The loyal militia organized quietly, and with the 
coming of the nev/ administration and the inauguration 
of Mr. Lincoln it was ready to protect the officials of the 
new administration and defend the Capital until such 
time as overt acts of hostility should make it necessary 
for volunteers from the North to assist in the national 
defense. 

Meanwhile great excitement prevailed. Union senti- 
ment in the District was strong enough to obtain a vote 
for appropriations to pay bounties to volunteers and the 
hire of drafted men. A peace convention was held and 
attended by men of prominence. A fast day was ob- 
served on September 26, 1861. There Avas still a large 
number opposed to the loyalists, men who remained away 
from the peace convention, who held numerous meetings 

[188] 



SOCIAL AND POLITICAL CONDITIONS 

and sent messages calculated to weaken the Federal in- 
fluence by arousing suspicion among the loyal defenders 
of the Capital. Communications of valuable secret in- 
formation were constantly transmitted to the enemy. 
Frequent arrests were made and occasionally an offender 
was imprisoned. 

With local conditions such as have been indicated, the 
administration of Mr. Lincoln began. Washington had 
been an orderly and easy-going city. The fact that in 
1861 the expenses of the police department were only 
about $32,580 is proof that order was preserved with com- 
parative ease; in 1901 the corresponding expenditure 
was $743,565. 

But as the Republican administration advanced the 
situation changed. The usually quiet Capital swarmed 
with newly-enlisted men who were frequently sent on 
without regard to equipment or discipline. Many of 
them were unarmed and had no adequate conception of 
the struggle in which they were to be important factors. 
It often required the assistance of the District Militia, 
aided by the fully-armed, equipped, and disciplined mili- 
tia of the North, and the small number of soldiers of the 
Regular Army then here, to preserve order and discipline. 
Even the newly-appointed officers were often without 
military experience or ideas. Army wagons and artillery 
tore up the streets and roads. Thousands of mules, driven 
by profane drivers, added to the excitement. 

In addition to this army came another of contractors 
and speculators, men not sufficiently patriotic to enlist 
as soldiers, but greedy enough to make the largest pos- 
sible profit out of the necessities of war. They were in 
some instances "shoddy," both morally and socially, and 
avoided no measures which would lead to financial suc- 
cess. Many old residents regarded this incursion as a 

• . , ' [189] 



WASHINGTON DURING WAR TIME 

great indignity. They gauged the business men of the 
North by those who came to Washington. Ladies, gentle 
and refined, who had been accustomed to ease and lux- 
ury at the National Capital, looked upon the overdressed 
wives and companions of the newly-arrived business men 
as representing the social conditions existing in the 
North, and fixed their condemnation accordingl}^ With 
the officers, soldiers, and contractors, their wives and rela- 
tives, the resident families Avanted no intercourse. 

Prices increased, not only for merchandise, but for 
board and lodging. Many who occupied houses charged 
fabulous prices for taking care of the new arrivals who 
had to be supplied Avith food and rooms. Others erected 
temporary quarters and charged exorbitant rates in order 
to get back their money as soon as possible. 

Washington had then quite a number of residences 
which were regarded as fine. Its hotel accommodations, 
although limited, had been sufficient to meet the demand 
upon them. The most noted, Willard's Hotel, was the 
headquarters in Washington of the radically loyal ele- 
ment, of officers, soldiers, and citizens who gathered there 
to hear news from the front or to discuss the situation 
and the relative claims to public honor urged on behalf 
of military and civilian officers. Other prominent hotels 
and places of resort were the Ebbitt House, Wormley's, 
the Ivirkwood, Avhich then occupied the site where the 
Raleigh now stands, the Metropolitan, the National, Mrs. 
Whitney's and Caspari's House on Capitol Hill, Welker's, 
Gautier's and Hancock's restaurants, the last named being 
still in existence. 

The hosts which came from the North in the early days 
of 1861 prior to the inauguration of Abraham Lincoln 
looked upon a very different city from the new and 
greater Washington of to-day. The Capitol was unfin- 

[190] 



SOCIAL AND POLITICAL CONDITIONS 

ishecl ; blocks of granite and marble were scattered about 
waiting to be placed in position and the building had no 
dome. The Treasury, Post-Office, and Interior Depart- 
ment buildings were also incomplete. The Washington 
monument had not attained half its present height. 

There was ample area on which to build a city with 
little jDromise that it could ever become one of the most 
beautiful capitals on the earth. 

Take away the War, State, and Navy Department 
building, Bureau of Engraving and Printing, National 
Museum, Agricultural Department building. Congres- 
sional Library, City Post-Office, Pension Bureau, Public 
Library, Pennsylvania Railroad Station, and Corcoran 
Gallery of Art; all the theatres but one; the modern 
school buildings; the New Willard, Gordon, Raleigh, 
Cochran, Grafton, Riggs, Shoreham, Arlington, Dewey, 
and Richmond hotels; the street railways; all the good 
street pavements and most of the sideAvalks; a large pro- 
portion of the fine residences and stores; all the statues 
and monuments with few exceptions ; cut down nearly all 
the trees that border our thoroughfares; remove the im- 
provements from all but three of our important squares; 
tear down all the houses north of K Street and west of 
14th Street and nearly all east of the Capitol; wipe out 
of existence all but three of the banks and trust compan- 
ies; take off the map of the District every suburban sub- 
division; restore the hills and valleys which have disap- 
peared with the improvement of our streets and avenues; 
restore the B Street Canal and Tiber Creek running 
throu":h the citv and cuttinsr off what was known as "The 
Island" ; put in their old positions all the streams, ditches, 
pools, and swamps which have long since been carried 
into sewers or filled up ; then let horses, cows, goats, and 
pigs roam at will over the larger part of the city's area — 

[191] 

i, 



t 



WASHINGTON DURING WAR TIME 

and you will have a fair view of the place from which 
was to be directed the great campaign to preserve the 
Republic. Here Lincoln was to see the war for the Union 
opened and closed, his country strengthened, perpetuated, 
and saved. 

The narroAv limits of the public school system in 1861 
may be understood from the fact that it cost but $27,064, 
while in 1901 the appropriation for public education Avas 
$1,108,619. The fire department, then operated by vol- 
unteers, cost but $1,610. In 1901, the corresponding al- 
lowance was $325,920. 

The city was growing steadily. From 1850 to 1860 its 
population had increased 45 per cent. There were but 
few rich residents although a large number were in mod- 
erate circumstances and the cost of living was compara- 
tively low. 

The social standards were peculiar. Education was 
considered dangerous to the masses. Those in trade were 
looked down upon until they attained political prefer- 
ment or acquired fortunes large enough to give them 
influence. Work demeaned everybody. A resident of the 
District who inherited valuable property remarked, "I 
never did a day's work and I never will." He lived long 
enough to waste his ample fortune through inattention, 
and passed into the next world leaning on charitable 
friends. Any occupation which would require a woman 
of social standing to leave her own family and home was 
deplored. Seclusion and poverty were ordinarily pre- 
ferred to self-help. Female labor, except by persons of 
the middle classes, was unheard of. What a wonderful 
change has taken place in this respect ! Now women are 
employed in every department of the Government, by 
every corporation, firm, and individual doing business of 
any magnitude; and the workers are contented, happy, 

' . [192] , , . . . . 



SOCIAL AND POLITICAL CONDITIONS 

and respected. The memory of slave labor and its con- 
comitants has almost passed away, and it is now diffi- 
cult to realize what an important place it once occupied 
in the life of Washington. 

The colored people were as a rule respectful and made 
good servants. Although they met with almost invari- 
able kindness and consideration, they were generally 
treated as an inferior race, born to do menial service. 
They were not allowed to ride on an omnibus line which 
was inaugurated about that time, and when horse-cars 
were introduced separate vehicles were provided for 
them. This phase of public opinion may perhaps be bet- 
ter understood when it is recalled that in January, 1866, 
nearly 6,600 ballots were cast by the voters of the Dis- 
trict against mixed suffrage and 35 in favor of it. No 
colored person could testify in legal proceedings and fre- 
quently much embarrassment arose from this restriction. 
Judge Andrew Wylie, who was for a long time on the Su- 
preme bench of the District of Columbia and for some 
years prior to his appointment a practicing attorney in the 
District courts, said that in a case in w^iich he appeared 
for one of the litigants he was convinced that the only 
person thoroughly acquainted with the facts involved 
was a colored man; that he so stated to the Court and 
claimed that in the interest of justice his witness should 
be allowed to testify but his motion was denied. It is 
worthy of note that Andrew Wylie at that time lived in 
Alexandria and was one of the two men in that city who 
voted for Abraham Lincoln in 1860. 

As the war progressed people of the different sections 
became better acquainted with each other. The generous 
provision made by the North for supplies for the sick 
and wounded, often shared by their enemies, helped to 
dispel the intense bitterness which existed in the early 



WASHINGTON DURING WAR TIME 

days of 1861. Many officers and soldiers fell in love with 
the fine and beautiful women who at first treated them 
with scorn and contempt, but afterwards came to admire 
the good qualities of the Yankee sufficiently to marry 
Northerners. The war brought many blessings in dis- 
guise, and not the least of them was this influx of new 
and vigorous men who were persuaded by one considera- 
tion or another to make AVashington their home. 

Wonderful results have been accomplished within the 
last thirty years. The sluggish and unenterprising city 
seems to have awakened from its dreams and has assumed 
attractions which make the people of the Union — Avith- 
out regard to section — its admiring friends. It competes 
with no other city in business or manufactures. It is a 
city of homes and the home of the National Government. 
It is the charming and gracious mistress of the nation's 
hospitality. But more noteworthy than everything else, 
it is the political headquarters of the United States. 




Washing-ton Arsenal. 



[194] 



Washington of Today 




John Hay. 



BY HENRY BROWN FLOYD MACFARLAND 

President^ Board of G ommissioners^ District of Colunibia 

ORTY years have changed 
Washington ahnost more than 
any other American city. The 
boys of '61 returning here for 
the first time would know 
the city by its surroundings 
and by the great landmark, 
the Capitol, whose dome was 
building under Abraham Lin- 
coln's faith, during the Civil 
War. But otherwise Wash- 
ington must seem like a new 
city. Looking at it from any 
of the hills around it, but especially, perhaps, from Ar- 
lington, itself so changed since it became the bivouac of 
the noble dead, they would see the completed Washing- 
ton Monument, now dominating every view of the Na- 
tional Capital; the incomparable Congressional Library 
Building, rivaling the Capitol; the great, gray State, 
War, and Navy building, standing on the sites of the 
little old buildings where Stanton and Welles directed 
the operations of the AVar and Navy Departments, and 
a score of high structures occupied by churches, colleges, 
and business corporations, besides a vast growth of trees, 
in orderly array along the streets and avenues, which 
make a mighty forest in the heart of the Capital. Then, 
^s they crossed over the Potomac, on one of the un- 

[195] 



WASHINGTON DURING WAR TIME 

changed bridges, they would see how the channel has been 
narrowed by improvements which have reclaimed a wide 
park land out of the shallows and marshes, and if they 
came in through older Georgetown, itself almost as un- 
changed as the bridges, they would find, in place of the 
rough roads of the Ci\dl War time, graded and asphalted 
streets and side-walks gradually changing from brick to 
concrete, shaded almost everywhere by some of the eighty 
thousand trees which, with the well-kept little parks, 
distinguish Washington from all other American cities. 
They would find at once a system of street railways, with 
underground electric trolley motors, covering not only all 
of the city of Washington and Georgetown, but a great part 
of the District of Columbia outside, and running beyond 
the borders to Bladensburg, Eockville, Cabin John's 
Bridge in Maryland, and Alexandria, Arlington, and 
Mount Vernon in Virginia. They would find that the 
best way to see the newer Washington and its surround- 
ings is by these car lines, beginning, perhaps, with that 
special tourists' car, which, in a two hours' circuit, passes 
a thousand interesting things. Almost every important 
National Government building and almost every place of 
historic interest can be directly reached by means of these 
railways, and many of the most attractive private resi- 
dences, club and apartment houses, churches and schools, 
can be seen from their cars. A trip through northwest- 
ern Washington and on beyond over the hills, reveals 
absolutely new scenes to the man who has not been here 
since the Civil War. Even the veteran who ten years 
ago who was here at the memorable National Encamp- 
ment, when an ex-President of the United States was 
among the eminent men who marched in review past the 
President of the United States, will find much that is 
new and beautiful in the buildings in that quarter, and 

[196] 



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WASHINGTON DURING WAR TIME 

if he goes out to Rock Creek Park and its small com- 
panion, Zoological Park, he will be as much surprised 
and delighted if he had not been here since 18G5. What 
is called Greater Washington, spreading out in every di- 
rection over the hills surrounding the old city on every 
side, except that of the Potomac, is of comparatively re- 
cent creation. The old soldier, going out to revisit one 
of the forts in the circle of Washington's defenses, will 
find all the older natural beauty and in addition much of 
the beauty that man produces. Looking at the Capital, 
either from the center of the city or from the circumfer- 
ence of the hills, its grandeur always appeals to the vis- 
itor. Many persons of taste who have seen all the great 
capitals of the world believe that none of them surpasses 
the Capital of the United States, taken with its sur- 
roundings, in present beauty, and some consider it now 
the most magnificent of all. Certainly it must be ad- 
mitted that when all the plans for its development and 
embellishment are carried out, it will stand unrivaled. 

In the last forty years Washington has quadrupled in 
population and the accessions have been largely of people 
of superior intelligence and cultivation, representing the 
best elements in all the States and Territories. Many 
rich people have become residents, at least for the winter 
months. The development of the executive departments 
of the National Government, with the growth of the 
nation's business, and the great increase in the scientific 
work carried on by the nation, have drawn to Washington 
many able men. The peculiar facilities for educational 
institutions, multiplying the number of colleges and 
schools, have drawn large numbers of scholars and stu- 
dents. Every variety of society is therefore to be found 
at its best in Washington. The presence of the President, 
the Cabinet, the Supreme Court, Congress, the Diplomatic 

[198] 



WASHINGTOK OF TODAf 

Corps, the highest officers of the Army and Navy, atid 
many eminent scientists and scholars gives it a cosmopoli- 
tan character that is most attractive, and draws visitors 
in increasing numbers from all over the United States 
and Canada and many other countries. The healthful 
climate, which is also agreeable during the greater part 
of the year, the beauty, comfort, and convenience of the 
city, the exceptional interest of its life, the absence of 
local partisan politics — because the elective franchise has 
been abolished — and the absence of great manufacturing 
establishments, are among the things which make Wash- 
ington almost ideal as a residence city. The good govern- 
ment of the District of Columbia, with its admirable pub- 
lic school system, police and fire departments, and other 
municipal features, all free from the scandalous prac- 
tices of blackmail and bribery, political favoritism, and 
corruption, which stain so many American municipalities, 
may be mentioned as one of the reasons why most people 
like to live in Washington. 

It is, perhaps, not generally known that the City of 
Washington itself has no government of its own such as it 
had during the Civil War. At that time, under the gen- 
eral legislative authority of Congress, which, by the Con- 
stitution, is given the exclusive power of legislation, but 
no executive or judicial authority, in the District of Co- 
lumbia, Washington and Georgetown (like Alexandria, 
which was taken out of the District in 1846 upon the 
retrocession of Virginia's contribution to the District), 
had municipal governments with mayors and councils 
elected by the qualified voters. In 1871 these governments 
were abolished and a territorial form of government for 
the entire District with a Governor and Legislature and 
a delegate in Congress was established by Congress. In 
1878 that form of government was abolished, together 

[1»9] 



WASSiKGtoiSr btJliiKG Wak time 

with the elective franchise, and the present form of gov- 
ernment by three Commissioners of the District of Cohnn- 
bia, appointed by the President and confirmed by the 
Senate, was created by an act of Congress, which the 
Snpreme Court has called the "Constitution of the Dis- 
trict of Columbia." These Commissioners are not the 
successors of the Mayors, of Washington or the Mayors 
of Georgetown, but of the Governors of the Territory. 
They are the executive authority not of the City of Wash- 
ington, but of the District of Columbia. This includes 
not only the City of Washington and the City of George- 
town, but more than fifteen towns and villages. Over 
fifty thousand people live in the District outside of the 
cities of Washington and Georgetown. The Congress of 
the United States is the legislature of the District of 
Columbia and its judiciary is affiliated with the courts 
of the United States. The Commissioners recommend 
legislation, including appropriations, which are made 
under the organic act of 1878, half from the National 
Treasury and half from the District tax funds. The 
United States contributed little or nothing to the general 
expenses of the District of Columbia prior to 1878, 
although it was admitted that it ought to do so because 
this was the National Capital and because the United 
States owned over one-half of the land, as is still the 
case. This land was donated to the United States by the 
original proprietors at the request of George Washing- 
ton, the founder of the National Capital. With two 
million dollars secured by the United States from the 
sale of a portion of this land, together with small grants 
from Maryland and Virginia, the Capitol and AYliite 
House and other public buildings were built, from 1790 
on, and the approaches to the National buildings were 
improved. The National Govermnent has paid the rest 

[200] 



WASHINGTON OF TODAY 

of the cost of the national buildings and grounds. Con- 
gress, besides passing on measures submitted by the Com- 
missioners, refers to them for report all bills proposing 
legislation for the District of Columbia, and is largely 
guided by their advice. The President before approving 
bills relating to the District of Columbia, which have 
been passed and sent to him by Congress, submits them 
to the Commissioners for any objections they may have to 
offer. 

No one can have a greater interest in the National Capi- 
tal than the survivors of the men who maintained and 
preserved it during the Civil War. They kept the nation 
from being rent in twain and the National Capital from 
being sw^allowed up in the awful gulf. They also dis- 
covered the National Capital to the country, which had 
cared but little about it before the war. The old, persist- 
ent talk of moving the Capital out West, started at first 
before the railway or telegraph gave adequate means of 
communication, was never seriously revived after the 
Civil War had hallowed Washington as the Capital for 
which the blood of the best had been poured out. 

General Grant, the leader of the grand armies of the 
Republic, shared the new feeling about the City of Wash- 
ington wdiich the Civil War produced, and when he 
became President gave the powerful support of his in- 
fluence to the efforts of Alexander R. Shepherd and 
others w^ho began the transformation which has created 
the newer Washington. In the process of its improve- 
ment through these thirty years, many other veterans of 
the Civil War who remained here have been prominent 
and useful. Many of the first citizens of the District of 
Columbia are survivors of the soldiers of the great con- 
flict. They typify, in their constant and patriotic devo- 
tion to the National Capital, the home of the flag, the 

[201] 



WASHlNGtON DtJRiNG WAH TIME 

center of the nation, the cordial feelings which their com- 
rades everywhere entertain respecting it. 

New Washington, Greater AYashington, welcomes with 
peculiar affection the defenders and preservers of the 
National Capital, its best friends, the veterans of the 
armies of the Union. 




View of City Hall. 



[202] 



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